One Step Closer
by FAC123
Summary: After a magic tome brings the dead back to life, mobs have completely overrun the once peaceful Empire of Minecraftia. But in a world where the dead outnumber the living by the thousands, law ceases to exist, and society has crumbled into dust, people aren't trying to be heroes. They're just trying to survive.
1. Chapter 0: How We Got Here

Seven hundred and forty one days.

It's been seven hundred and forty one days since the mob invasion. Everybody has lost something or someone, whether it be their homes, friends, family, or even their own lives. And the worst part? There is no stopping it. There isn't any prophecy to stop this. There isn't any mythical "chosen one," or some sort of cure. This is it. This is reality now, and that reality is a cold and uncaring one:

Do _whatever_ it takes to survive.

It all started 45 years ago with the warrior king known as Notch. King Notch had, whether it be through diplomacy or conquest, acquired all known land currently mapped out by civilization. He named his unified kingdom, "Minecraftia." With all the known land under his unified rule and banner, the warrior king became an emperor, and his kingdom an empire.

But this is not the typical story about an emperor turned evil. Emperor Notch, unlike the kings, barons, and warlords who had come before him, was kind and fair to his people.

Under his rule, he was able to transform Minecraftia from a war-torn battlefield into a stabilized union of commerce, education, and diplomacy. He established trade routes to and from the many cities in his new empire. He built many schools that specialized in redstone engineering, alchemy, construction and masonry, agriculture, business, and various other fields of study. He also made education free to any and all who wished to apply themselves. With proper education now available to everybody, Minecraftia flourished and grew very quickly. Towns that used to only have several wooden huts soon transformed into castles and cities complete with stone walls and farmland. And, in a feat that had never been attempted or much less accomplished before, he was even able to establish a stronghold in the mythical Nether, conquering the area from the zombie pigmen who formerly owned the hell-like underworld. The taxes were fair, the farms were bursting with crops, and he had a considerable army of troops garrisoned in every city and town to keep order and maintain peace. Indeed, by many peoples' account, Emperor Notch had created the perfect civilization.

But good things seldom last.

Emperor Notch, while his word was law and ultimately had the final say on decisions, had a special group that he created to discuss various topics on the social and economic matters of the empire. Called the Order of the Empirical Consultants, or just "the Order," this group was tasked with offering advice and updates on the empire to Emperor Notch. Composed of numerous lawmen of the Capitol City, the Order was slowly starting to grow tired of Emperor Notch's charitable and fair acts as emperor. The taxes, by their account, were too low. The government should have more power, not the people. Their disillusion with the emperor grew as Notch's chief consultant and brother, Herobrine, made promises of how he would make them all very rich men if _he_ were emperor instead of Notch.

Greed, once again, became the undoing of so much good.

Eventually, the entire Order was conspiring to overthrow Notch and replace him with Herobrine. And, of course, they succeeded. Using the trust that Notch had in Herobrine against him, Herobrine was able to get close enough to his brother to poison his wine goblet. One sip was all it took. Notch's body was quickly disposed of and the Order wasted no time in declaring Herobrine the new emperor. Of course, had they known the events that were about to transpire, they would have killed Herobrine as well to stop him. Unfortunately, their lack of foresight led to more than just Notch's death that night.

Herobrine, although evil, was very clever. He knew that there was no way Notch, a mere mortal, was able to lead an army to conquer the entire known world by himself. There had to be a secret to his success on the battlefield. And he was right. Herobrine ordered the castle to be searched up and down. Every cabinet, every display case, every mattress, every crack or crease would be turned inside out and upside down until finally he found it. The secret to Notch's power: a magic tome found under the floorboards.

This tome, written in the olden language, was enchanted with a very powerful spell. It's origins were unknown, but the book was dated back to the earliest known history of Minecraftia, hundreds of years before the warrior king Notch. How his brother obtained such a tome, Herobrine did not know, but neither did he care. Herobrine thought that with this tome, he too shall become as powerful a leader as Notch. But Herobrine was arrogant. He did not understand that the tome would only work for those who had been properly trained to use it. _Chosen_ to use it. Because of his pride, Herobrine was not only unable to harness the power of the tome, he was stricken blind by the power sealed within the tome itself. Cursing the tome, Herobrine ordered the old book to be burned. The greatest mistake mankind has ever known.

As the tome burned, the words within became twisted, distorted, and charred. These words were not, however, the source of the tome's power. They were the protective seal that bound the magic to the book. As they burned away, the magic seeped into the air. As the magic grew and grew and became more unbound by the fire, it created a rift. A rift between the living and the dead. Unable to contain anymore of the tome's power, the rift ruptured as the magic completely dispersed and covered all of Minecraftia. For a few minutes there was silence. And then there were screams. Nobody could believe their eyes at the sight that laid before them.

The dead were rising.

It didn't matter if they died two seconds ago or a hundred years ago. Out of the ground corpses and skeletons were slowly starting to crawl out. They had only one thing that drove them. Only one objective. One purpose: Kill. The mobs of zombies and skeletons quickly overran the Capitol City in its confusion. They butchered anything in their path, man or beast. In a matter of just a few hours, the Capitol City was completely overrun and the Empire was already crumbling. The Consultants of the Order fled the city leaving it to burn along with any citizens that weren't lucky enough to get a military escort out. As for the newly crowned Emperor? In a dramatic case of irony, Herobrine ended up being killed by the very person he had poisoned just hours earlier. Fate destined Notch to be able to get his revenge in death as a flesh-eating zombie.

Referred to as the "mob" due to their sheer amount of numbers, the zombies and skeletons were showing up everywhere, not just at the Capitol. It wasn't enough, however, for the rift to raise the dead. Nature itself was cursed, and out of the trees came the leaved abominations known only as the "creepers." These creepers had the power of combustion, and wooden fortifications and housing were soon rendered obsolete due to their explosive properties.

Many survivors who had escaped the mobs from the Capitol City tried to make their way to another city for refuge, only to meet their end along the way. Those who were able to make it to the gates of a city found them closed to keep out the mob and unable to take in survivors. They also died. Panic and hysteria was rampant throughout the remaining cities. The walls were able to keep out the mobs from coming inside the gates, but it couldn't stop the riots in the streets and the looting and murder that quickly became common place city life in the final days of the empire. Eventually, the northern cities fell. Then, as a concentrated mob moved further south through the mountains, the southern cities fell. Finally, just a few short months after the mob invasion began, the last stronghold of the empire fell, a coastal city located in the south-west known as Spawn Pointe. Said to be the birthplace of humanity in Minecraftia, it became the final resting place for the empire, as well as most of mankind.

But not _all_ of mankind.

The empire had fallen. But there were still survivors. Pockets of people were spread all through the remains of Minecraftia. Each group might as well have been its own little kingdom. With no imperial laws to abide by, anarchy _was_ the law. Some groups resorted to raiding and pillaging other groups' supplies and camps to survive. These people became known as "griefers" due to the destruction and grief they'd leave behind in the wake of their raids. Other groups, however, set up small forms of government and tried to return to the ways before the mob invasion. Other groups simply just traveled place to place without keeping in one spot too long and plundered the remains of the old cities for anything useful. In the end, it really didn't matter. No matter what, all these groups had one thing in common, and that was their mindset. The only mindset that anyone has anymore:

Do whatever it takes to survive.

* * *

 _ **Next Chapter: Compass**_

* * *

 _ **A/N: Hey there, first chapter (technically introduction so "Chapter 0") of this new Minecraft FF I'm working on. I've been wanting to write about this a lot and now that I'm out of the house I finally can. I actually posted the first chapter or two of a similar story like, a year ago, but I really didn't like the direction I was going with it and I really didn't enjoy it, so I scrapped it and now I'm sort of working on this one which is sort of a new and improved version of my last attempt with some changes to make it better. This time, though, I actually like what I'm writing and I'm going to actually try my damnest to finish it this time 'round. Anyway, if you think this is an interesting concept or whatever, or maybe you don't like it at all, I'm always happy for any sort of feedback and I'll hopefully be posting the next chapter, the FIRST first chapter, in a day or two. Thanks for reading. :)**_


	2. Book 1, Chapter 1: Compass

_**Book 1: The Mob Invasion  
Chapter 1: Compass**_

 _ **Days Since the Mob Invasion: 741**_

* * *

Weightlessness. Rinoa had traveled through a Nether portal dozens of times by now, but the feeling of stepping through one never grew old to her. The feeling that you might be falling, and yet also the feeling that you're floating perfectly still. Like you're there, but you aren't. The more she tried to think about it, the more her head hurt. Some things are just better left unknown she supposed. She never understood the link between the Netherworld and the Overworld, even when she was forced to take all those classes on the Nether when she was enrolled in the Capitol's university. One things for certain, though, she much preferred the Overworld. Eventually she started to feel the feelings return to her hands. Then in just a matter of a seconds her entire body could feel again. The blinding purple started to fade as Rinoa's vision returned.

A field. The nether portal had opened up in the middle of a grassy prairie. She stepped out of the portal and looked around. Miles and miles of flat, open field. This would be the perfect place to build a farm, she thought. She could see mountains in the distance, and right before that there was a forest, but it would be quite the walk before she'd reach them.

Hearing the whirring of the Nether portal behind her, she took a few steps forward to allow room for her traveling companion to also come through. After a few seconds, she saw Hunter emerge from the portal, a little disorientated, but still fine. He brushed himself off and took a long look around.

"Looks like we're a ways away," Hunter said, surveying the area with his skilled eyes. Hunter had the best eyesight of anyone that he knew, and he wasn't vain for thinking so. This eyesight made him a great surveyor, tracker, and humorously enough with his name, an excellent hunter as well.

"We have to be on the other side of Minecraftia," Rinoa spoke up. "Those mountains over there are probably the Red Mountains. This is good. That means we shouldn't run into many mobs." Rinoa smiled. She couldn't remember the last time she could look onto a horizon and not see any zombies or skeletons or, even worse, creepers ruining the view. Most of the mobs had congregated to the southern part of Minecraftia by now. If they truly are in the north like she suspected, then with a little bit of luck they shouldn't run into many mobs while they scavenged for resources. She took a few steps forward. "C'mon. We still have some sunlight left. If we're lucky, we can find an abandoned farmhouse. Maybe we could poke in and see if we can find something useful. Camp out for the night."

Rinoa took a few more steps forward before stopping. Hunter's footsteps weren't following her. She turned around to see what the problem was.

"Drop your bag on the ground, Rin." Hunter had his bow and arrow out, and he was aiming it right at her. Rinoa looked at him confused. "Don't make me ask again. All I need is the compass. You can keep any food and materials you have, but I can't let you keep the compass." Rinoa just stared at him for a few more seconds, dumbfounded. Then it finally sank in. She laughed softly.

"Ahaha... Hunter, is this what I think it is?" She asked, puzzled. Hunter didn't respond. "I take it this isn't a scavenger run like you told me it would be? Well, that certainly explains why you've been so quiet these past few days. So, let me guess... Lana couldn't keep her mouth shut?" She laughed again.

"For all that is holy, Rin, you _killed_ William! What did you expect was going to happen?" Hunter didn't back down. He kept his arrow aimed right at Rinoa. All it would take is for him to let it fly and Rinoa would get an arrow right in the middle of her chest. He prayed to a god he didn't even believe in that it wouldn't come to that. Rinoa's once friendly demeanor slowly faded. Her eyes became dark and her face stern. She took a step closer.

"So, it seems that blood doesn't matter anymore, huh? Lana sold me out to Frederick? My big sister sold me out? _Me?!_ After everything I've done for her? For Sofie?! And Frederick ordered you to kill me?" Rinoa took another step closer to Hunter but stopped when she saw his fingers on the bowstring start to flinch. Hunter may be a drunk, but that never interfered with his marksmanship. If anything, she found that the drunker he was, the more accurate his bow.

"You're right." Hunter relented. He at least owed her the truth. "Frederick wanted me to kill you, but luckily for you I'm not, even though I should. William was our friend, Rin! Think about what Sofie-"

"He killed Sofie!" Rinoa interjected, yelling. "That bastard snapped her neck and fed her to the zombies, Hunter! I know you think I'm crazy, so did Lana. But I'm telling you, he killed Sofie. He killed my sister!"

"And William was Frederick's nephew!" Hunter could feel his anger starting to rise. "Lana told me you thought William killed Sofie. Think for a second, Rin, that doesn't make any sense. William had no reason to do that! You just couldn't accept the fact that you lost something like everybody else has, so you had to hurt somebody else just to make yourself feel better!" Hunter didn't believe Rin's accusation against William. William and Sofie were romantically involved, for William to just kill her one night for no reason? No, the mob got Sofie, and that's all there is to it. Looking at Rin, though, he could tell that she really did believe that William was to blame for her sister's death. He frowned.

For three days he had to pretend that things between him and Rinoa were fine as they ventured through the Nether. For three days he went over and over what he would say to her when they got to the point. He could feel himself starting to lose his cool.

"Look, Rinoa, I know how hard it was for you to lose Sofie... but killing William for it? It was an accident! William didn't kill Sofie, the mobs did, you know that. And I'm sorry, but we can't allow you back into Hunter's Watch. Not after what you did. Now, I'm begging you, please... don't make me kill you. Drop your compass on the ground, and step back. Now." Hunter ordered.

Rinoa looked at Hunter, her face was harder to read than any book written in the olden language. No signs of fear or nervousness, even with an arrow aimed directly at her. A calm rage was the only expression she allowed to show. A deep, burning anger inside of her couldn't help but bubble to the surface. He had seen it many times in the past few days, and he was beginning to wonder if he really was going to have to let his arrow fly. After a few seconds that felt like hours, he finally saw Rinoa close her eyes and let out a deep sigh.

"Sofie's neck was snapped, Hunter. What kind of mob does that?" Rinoa impatiently explained, trying to reason with Hunter. "And don't tell me that William wasn't a snake, because he was. And you know it. You saw how he acted after she died. Don't tell me he wasn't suspicious. Sofie knew something that she wasn't supposed to, so he killed her for it, I promise you that. I don't regret what I did, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. But very well. You win, but if you think for a second that banishing me and leaving me to die out here makes you any less of a murderer than killing me yourself, then you're wrong. It just makes you a coward." Rinoa glared into Hunter's eyes again before taking off her backpack off and throwing it to the ground. Keeping her eyes on Hunter, she backed up about five steps. "There you go, vulture. Take what you need." She crossed her arms and spat on the ground.

Cautiously, Hunter slowly put away his bow and arrow and brought out his sword. Even through the insults, Hunter was relieved that Rinoa was complying. He didn't want to kill her. He liked her, hell he even used to think that he might _like_ like her, but murdering one of your own friends in cold blood like that and then claiming that the person you killed was responsible for your sister's death even though you had no evidence? Rinoa had lost it. Not that he blamed her entirely. Hell, he's been close to losing it himself a few times within the past two years. It was painful to have to see her this way, but he knew what he was doing was for the best for her as well as Hunter's Watch. He knelt down and picked up the bag.

"You know, they say that a day's journey in the Nether is about eight day's journey in the Overworld," Hunter remarked while rummaging through the bag looking for the compass. "That means we're about a month out, Rin. Give or take a couple days. This could, you know, be your chance at a new start or something. Find a different group. Build a house for yourself. This could be good for you to do... whatever it is you need to do." Hunter felt like he was talking more to himself than Rin. Maybe he was just trying to make himself feel better. Solo survivors barely survive that long against the mobs, he knew that. And heaven help her if she encountered a group of griefers. Hunter decided it was best not to think about it lest he change his mind and continued searching through her bag.

Sticks of TNT... Gunpowder... Unlit redstone torches... An iron hatchet... Ah, there it was. The compass. Hunter pulled it out. He watched as the little line of redstone within immediately pointed in the direction of their home in Hunter's Watch. It was a fine piece of redstone engineering, and he didn't know how Lana did it. Simple, yet also incredibly delicate. He'd have to ask Lana how she did it when he got back. As nice as it was, he couldn't allow Rinoa to keep it and have her attempt to do who knows what with it. He looked back up to Rinoa only to see her staring daggers into him. He looked away. He couldn't help but feel guilty for doing this to her, but at least this way she had a chance. It was better than what Frederick would have him to do to her. As far as Hunter was concerned, Rinoa was just as much a victim as William or Sofie were. She had just... lost it. He tossed the bag back her way.

"Thanks," she remarked sarcastically as she picked her bag back up.

Though Hunter probably couldn't tell by looking at her, a dozen different scenarios were all playing simultaneously in her head. She had to think fast. Hunter had a compass and now he has hers. If he goes back through that portal with her compass, she'd be completely lost. It didn't matter if she knew which way was north or south, without knowing the precise location to walk in to get back to Hunter's View, she'd be completely and utterly lost. Minecraftia was a big place and their community was well-hidden within a forest. It'd be highly unlikely for her to just stumble across it again one day, even if she were looking for it. She had to get the compass back and fast. Hunter took a few steps backwards toward the Nether portal still humming behind him. He felt like he should say something, but what?

"I, uh, guess this is it, Rin. Stay safe out there. Just so you know, I really kind of hoped things might work out differently between you and I. You were always sort of... I always thought you... uh, well, you know... Goodbye, Rin..." Hunter awkwardly stumbled over his words, not at all leaving on as eloquent a note as he wanted to. He never was very polished in his speech. Ever watchful of Rinoa's next move, he started to turn his back away from her towards the Nether portal. Rinoa wasn't that good in hand-to-hand combat and everyone knew it, especially Rinoa. However she didn't exactly have anything to lose, and he did fear what her desperation would make her do. As he was almost about to cross into the Nether portal, though, he heard her speak up behind him.

"Wait," she asked. It didn't sound like a command, more like she was begging. Pleading. He turned around to see her, Rinoa, fallen to her knees and was just sitting there on the ground. Tears were streaming from her eyes. "Just, please, kill me. I can't do it anymore. Just kill me." Rinoa watched through her blurred vision as Hunter's caution melted away into sympathy. He was expecting a fight, but this? He wasn't expecting this, not from her. Hunter sheathed his sword and walked over to her.

"Oh, Rin, honey... Look, don't say that. You don't really want me to-"

 _ **THAK!**_

Hunter was cut off by a swinging hatchet making contact with his right shoulder. Time seemed to stand still for a split second. _Behind her back,_ he thought. _She hid it behind her back when I turned away._ He saw as the blood squirted out of the wound in his shoulder, almost in slow motion. He saw the look of pure anger in Rinoa's eyes, dramatically different from the feigned look of hopelessness she was acting out just a few seconds earlier. _I should have known,_ Hunter thought. As cautious as he was, she still managed to catch him off guard. She was a cornered animal at this point, there was nothing he could do to help her. And then, just like that, time seemed to start back up again.

Hunter took a step back and yelled in pain as the hatchet unlodged from his shoulder. Rinoa wasted no time in making a grab for the sack on Hunter's back that held the compasses. Just as soon as she felt her fingertips brush against it though, she was dealt a hard punch to the face by Hunter's good arm. She fell to the ground, the pain in the right side of her face already starting to swell in her cheeks and bruise, but that couldn't stop her, not anymore. She grabbed Hunter's leg and yanked it as hard as she could. Hunter quickly lost his balance as he fell on his back with a loud thud. His shoulder was starting to bleed fairly heavily, but the adrenaline was flowing freely into his bloodstream at this point keeping him going. This wasn't sparring with wooden swords like back at camp, Rinoa was sincerely trying to murder him.

With both combatants now on the ground, Rinoa quickly climbed on top of her former friend and raised her hatchet above her head, ready to deal the killing blow. Hunter saw this and quickly grabbed her arm and jerked it to the side as they both fell over sideways. They were now fighting over who could get hold of the hatchet. As they struggled and rolled on the ground, the contents of Rinoa's inventory were falling out and becoming strewn all across the ground and so was Hunter's. Despite his injury, Hunter gained the upper hand as he pinned Rinoa to the ground. Not wanting to give her another chance to take his life, he delivered a series of serious punches to her head and mouth, busting her lip and upper brow open until she finally relented and let go of the hatchet. Hunter quickly grabbed it and stood up over his defeated opponent, gasping for breath and now covered in blood. Rinoa held her face as the tears involuntarily welled up in her eyes from the pain.

Shaking with adrenaline, Hunter screamed out. "Damn you, Rin! I hope the mob tears your apart for what you've done!" Hunter was able to furiously yell out in between gasps. Rinoa was no fighter, but if that hatchet swing had been just a few more inches up the blow would have been a very lethal neck injury that would have likely killed him by now. Tossing the hatchet far away from either one of them, he pulled out his sword, pointing it at her. "I _should_ kill you!" he threatened. At this point, Hunter even thought that he'd be able to. The anger and the adrenaline was fueling him by this point. She already killed William. Now she's going to kill _him_? After he went out of his way to try and spare her? He was angry enough to run her through right there. Rinoa, holding her lip, didn't say anything. She laid there looking at the contents of her inventory strewn across the ground from the fight. A stick of TNT... an old book... a small water jug... some redstone torches...

Wait... redstone torches?

Rinoa peered over at them, blinking through the blood as it trickled into her eyes. She had forgotten that Lana had given her some a few weeks ago. She always kept them in her inventory, though, just in case she'd ever need them... _Well, well, well..._ Rinoa thought as she formulated a plan. It looked like her sister's gift was going to help her out after all. She slowly started crawling towards the torches as Hunter yelled at her. _What is he saying?_ Rinoa asked herself. It didn't matter. Not anymore at least. Why, she was so excited about her plan that she began to laugh. She laughed and she laughed and she laughed. Hunter watched on, still angry but now slightly confused as Rinoa made her way to some redstone torches that had fallen on the ground, laughing maniacally along the way. Hunter sighed and shook his head.

"You know what? There's no point in killing you. You're already broken. Good riddance, Rin." Sword in hand, Hunter turned and walked away from Rinoa and towards the Nether portal, eager to end this chapter of his life. Before he could make it quite towards the entrance though, he thought her heard something hiss. He turned around to see Rinoa standing up, a twisted smile on her face.

"Catch," Rinoa whispered softly as she threw something in front of Hunter. He watched as it plopped on the ground as the hissing continued. His eyes quickly widened with horror when he realized.

" _OH SHIT!"_

 **BOOM!**

Hunter's body rolled several feet as the TNT explosion propelled him backwards before finally hitting a small boulder that stopped him in his tracks. His ears were ringing and his chest felt like it had been hit a dozen times with a hammer. He gasped for air that simply wasn't coming. Blood began running down from his forehead and into his left eye causing him to squint, but he still managed to look over beside him. Rinoa had been knocked back by the blast too, but she seemed to be fairing far better than him. No visible wounds from the blast, and she was already struggling to her feet.

"Dammit..." Hunter muttered to himself. He fought against every fiber of muscle in his body as he tried to get himself up and to his knees. His breath came back to him, and he was shakily able to bring himself to his feet. Alright, change of plans: He needed to put as much distance between him and Rinoa as humanly possible.

He saw from the corner of his eye as Rinoa rose to her feet and dusted off her leather cuirass. She then turned and started walking. The hatchet. She was going for the hatchet. She was intending to finish the job. She wasn't the strongest, but Hunter was badly wounded now. All it would take is one good swing to end it. To end him. Rinoa crouched down and picked up her hatchet, noticing her reflection behind the blood specks on the polished iron. Looking into her reflection, she felt... wrong.

 _It wasn't supposed to be this way,_ she thought. But it didn't matter anymore. It was almost over.

Hunter limped slowly to the Nether portal. He had to get away, he couldn't win this fight right now. He had to make it to the Nether and break the portal so that she couldn't follow him. It was the only way.

But Rinoa had different ideas.

Any form of composure or restraint that she had was melting away. Ever since Sofie died, she had to maintain this face of tranquility. She had to be strong for herself and Lana. She had to act as if everything was fine, even after she killed William. She had to maintain the charade for several days so that nobody would expect what she did. But now? She was tired of hiding behind a mask. She can let it all out now. Clutching the hatchet as hard as she could, she started walking toward the limping Hunter. She can let it all out.

Hunter was almost at the Nether portal now. Gripping his sword, he looked over his shoulder to see Rinoa quickly approaching him. He began limping faster. Leaning up against the Nether portal, he could see that he wouldn't make it through in time. Rinoa was right behind him and he could hear her footsteps quickening, like an ocelot about to pounce her prey. _Let's hope this works._ Taking his sword, he spun around lobbed it as hard as he could at Rinoa. _Nothing left to lose, right?_ His rival screamed as the sword hit its mark, the blade hitting her square in her chest and knocking her on the ground. Hunter couldn't believe that it actually worked! Hands still shaking, he pulled out his diamond pickaxe from his inventory in his backpack and began to cross through the portal. As he was about halfway through, he took one last look at Rinoa. She was curled up in a ball, holding her chest and screaming.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, regretful for how things transpired. Raising his pickaxe above his head, he smashed the obsidian block on the side of the portal. Once. Twice. Three times until, finally, it shattered and the portal began to close. The last thing he saw was Rinoa laying there on the ground, motionless. And, just like that, Hunter was gone and an entire dimension separated him and his friend turned rival.

Rinoa laid there for several minutes with her eyes closed as she held her chest and concentrated on the pain. The leather armor had prevented the blade from cutting too deep into her, however it did very little to cushion the blow of the sword as it hit her directly in her ribs. She definitely broke one, or at the very least bruised a few. After a few more minutes, she slowly started to rise to her feet, carefully to avoid anymore pain than necessary. Holding her ribs, she looked up and saw the Nether portal broken. A sizable chunk had been taken out in the side by Hunter's pickaxe. Hunter was gone. She was alone.

She let out a curse under her breath, defeated. If her ribs weren't in so much pain, she'd probably scream. She looked up at the sky and saw it was slowly but surely starting to darken. The sun was setting and she was out here by herself. She cursed again. Her ribs were killing her, and it hurt just to stand. Looking around for her backpack, she finally spotted it near the portal. Reaching into her backpack's inventory, she pulled out a potion of regeneration. She always had a potion of regeneration and several potions of healing on her at all time, just in case. After all, she never knew when one of her friends was going to betray her and leave her for dead stranded in the middle of nowhere. Better safe than sorry.

Popping the cork off the flask, she gulped the magical concoction down in two swigs. She let out a sigh of relief as she felt the potion already starting to do its work. Within an hour's time her ribs should be completely healed. She raised her eyes to the heavens and raised the flask in a toast. "Thanks, Sis. I owe you one." Even after she died, Sofie was still saving her big sister's life with her brews. "I'm going to make them pay for what they did to you, Sofie. I swear." Rinoa's voice trembled. Although she had just been in a fight for her life, whenever she though of her sister she instantly felt better. Peaceful. Like Sofie herself was right next to her, letting her know she was going to be okay.

Still, she couldn't stand there all day. She inspected the Nether portal from where she was standing. Tossing the empty flask back into her inventory, she took note of the chunk in the side. "Shit," she mumbled to herself. She was no mason, she couldn't repair stone, much less pure obsidian. Even George had problems building the Nether portal they used back at Hunter's Watch, and he was a master of his craft with years experience at the Capitol University under his belt from before the invasion. Still... maybe it looks worse than what it is? She walked toward the portal to see the damages up close. Walking was still putting a strain on her ribs, but it was noticeably less painful. Unfortunately, that was the only potion of regeneration that she had, so she'd just have to make due with the few potions of healing that she had left. Unless she were to run across another alchemist who could-

 _ **Clink!**_

Something metallic dinged under her boot as she took her last step. "Eh?" she let out, confused. Lifting her boot, she could see something shiny sticking in the ground, a little buried under the dirt. "Is that..." Rinoa couldn't even finish. Wincing, she bent down to pick up the rounded object. Holding it up, she cleaned off some of the dirt. "There's no way," Rinoa exclaimed. "No fucking way..." It must have fallen out in the fight. Her disbelief boiled into anger as she clenched it tightly in her hand. So tight she thought it was going to cut through the leather in her gloves. She held the key to her revenge. The key to justice for Sofie. And she damn well intended to use it.

Hunter's compass.

* * *

 _ **Next Chapter: Out of the Frying Pan...  
**_

* * *

 _ **(EDIT 4/27/2017: Went back over this and did a little bit of reformatting. Didn't really take out or change anything, but wanted to make it prettier to read.)  
**_


	3. Book 1, Chapter 2: Out of the Frying Pan

_**Book 1: The Mob Invasion  
Chapter 2: Out of the Frying Pan...**_

 ** _Days Since the Mob Invasion: 744_**

* * *

Hunter's Watch was, by all accounts, a strategically placed community. Located next to the second largest lake in Minecraftia, Calamari Lake, the coast provided the town with plenty of fish and water while also offering a natural defense against land attacks from the west. To the east and south, a dense forest conceals Hunter's Watch, hiding the town from the opportunistic eyes of most griefers as well as most mobs. To the north, about a day and a half's hike through the forest on foot, the Iron Mountains loom over the horizon, casting their shadow for miles across the valley. Hunter's Watch was, indeed, well hidden. However, it wasn't invisible.

Peering from a small cliff overlooking the settlement, a cautious pair of eyes surveyed the town, looking for any signs of danger. The figure was crouched between a rock and a tree making sure that any citizens, or mobs, wouldn't spot him. He had been there for the past day now, watching and waiting. Looking for any indication that this camp was a griefer camp. The settlement surely had an impressive wall, that much is true. Made out of solid stone with wooden beams as reinforcements, it would take a lot for anyone to penetrate through the town's defenses. Even TNT would need a few charges to break through. He looked again toward the gate. Pure iron grating, most likely with redstone engineering used to lower and drop it to allow traffic in and out. He whistled quietly to himself.

"Whoever their mason is, he's certainly skilled," he mumbled. He hadn't seen masonry that solid since pre-invasion. Most of the people with the knowledge to build that either died, turned into zombies, or lack the resources. He took another look at the gatekeeper himself. Though he was fairly far away, he could still make out the body from this distance if he squinted. A male with a spear and armor, most probably chainmail. The watcher looked down at his humble rough leather boots and broken leather chestpiece. He'd stand no chance against the gatekeeper if a fight were to occur. But, hopefully there would be no need for that. Not that he was going to survive much longer anyway at this rate. Farming is too slow, and he always was a poor hunter. He was desperate. "You can do it, Alan," he whispered. "Just like last time... Just like last time."

His heart was beating so fast he felt as if it would burst through his rib cage and out of his chest. It has been several months since he made contact with another group, and even then that was just for trading. This? This was entirely different. Worst case scenario, they're griefers and they kill him on sight and take his things like any well-respected griefer would. Second worse case scenario, they're griefers and they beat him up before taking his things like any well-respected griefer would, and then leave him for dead. Alan gulped. But, still, there's always that chance. That minuscule chance that maybe, just maybe, they're good people. Maybe they _need_ people. Maybe they'd let him in. Normally, he'd say the worst they can do is say "no," but...

Alan looked at the gatekeeper again. That spear was probably taller than he was...

Yeah, no, there's definitely worse things they can do than say "no."

* * *

Daren had been on watch at the gate for the past few days since Hunter left to take care of their "little problem." Now that Hunter's back and bleeding all over the infirmary ward, it looked like he was going to be taking care of gate keeping again for the next few days. It was simple: watch the treeline in front of the gate for griefers, use his spear to eliminate any mobs that wandered too close to the wall, patrol along the top of the wall to keep a lookout on all sides of the community, and ring the bell if there's ever any danger. Not that Daren was bothered by it. In truth, it reminded him of his life before the invasion. Before everything fell apart.

" _Spear sergeant,"_ his former lieutenant's words echoed through his head in a distant memory. " _From this day on, you'll be known as 'The Impaler.'"_ He felt a small smile creep across his face before stopping himself. Those days are gone. No point in thinking about them anymore. He closed his eyes and rubbed his brow. The smooth sheepskin leather rubbed away the excess sweat and oil from the day's patrol. It wasn't necessarily a hot day, but there was no breeze. The air was completely still and it was definitely noticeable.

"Hello there!" Daren instinctively jumped from his chair with his spear ready at the sudden disturbance in the otherwise quiet afternoon. Eyes wide open, he looked around for a brief second before spotting the source of the voice. A man, alone, walking out of the tree line with his hands held up.

"Stop where you are! Do _not_ come any closer!" Daren barked his orders, his spear in an overhand position in case he needed to throw it at the encroaching intruder. Surprisingly, the man stopped without question. Daren cursed at himself mentally. He had allowed a complete stranger to take him off guard while he was on patrol. Still, he can worry about that later. What mattered now was this man in front of him. Daren inspected the man's face. Young, but far from a child. Early 20s most likely. Clean cut, no dirt, no grime. Handsome. Eyes wide open. _He's scared._ Shaking. Hands raised above his head, both empty. An iron sword attached to his belt on his right side. He's left-handed. Backpack, impossible to tell its contents from this viewpoint. Very little armor, but some basic leather boots and gloves as well as a dried out leather cuirass that looked like it was about to fall apart any minute. Either he likes to travel light, or he can't find better equipment.

"S-sorry if I caught you off guard! I didn't mean to-"

"Quiet!" Daren silenced the man. Daren stared into the man's eyes for a good minute. Finally, he spoke up. "Have you been bitten? Yes or no?"

The man shook his head. "Never!" he replied. Daren thought of his options for a few seconds. The man had followed his instructions so far. That's more than he could say about most people who've come crawling up to their gates before. Still, he could always be lying about being bitten...

"What's your name?" Daren asked, still keeping his spear ready.

"Alan!" the man replied. Daren sighed. Why didn't Hunter or Zeke ever get strangers like this on _their_ shifts?

"Come closer, Alan. Keep your hands where I can see them and no sudden moves." He ordered. The man named Alan, once again, followed his instructions and approached the gate slowly until he was about 10 feet away. "That's close enough, stranger," Daren warned as Alan immediately stopped. Alan's hands weren't in the air anymore, but they were definitely still shaking. This, Daren thought, was either a good thing or a bad thing. Scared people do stupid things, sure. But if he's scared, that means he's vulnerable. That means he likely doesn't have any "friends" hidden in the treeline to back him up if things were to go bad for him. Daren finally assessed that his threat level was minimal, and relaxed his muscles... but only slightly.

As Alan was looking up at the gatekeeper who was atop of the wall, he was _really_ starting to have second thoughts about this whole thing. He thought that his friendly introduction and by being as loud as he could when he first identified himself would let the gatekeeper know that he wasn't trying to sneak up on him, but it appears that his plan backfired and he only made the gatekeeper even more paranoid than he probably already was. _This is why I don't socialize,_ he thought to himself.

"What do you want?" Daren asked. Alan could see the spear still pointed at him. Obsidian spiked, and it looked like it was chiseled down to a razor thin sharpness. That would cut through his leather chest-piece like paper. The man behind the spear was just as intimidating. A short, black beard, black hair, dark eyes, a tall well-built frame, and a stern face that did well to hide the fact that Daren was only a few years older than Alan was. This guy, Alan surmised, had definitely seen some shit.

"Well... I want to join you guys' community here, please. What's the name, if you don't mind me asking?" Alan was stammering over his words like a 6 year old, but he didn't care. He was just thankful that he even remembered how to talk at all with a spear aiming right at him.

"Hunter's Watch," the gatekeeper replied.

"Uh, no. I meant _your_ name."

"Daren," the gatekeeper replied again, before letting out a deep sigh. "Look, Alan, I'm going to tell you what I've told everyone else: We can't afford to let people in. We got a good thing going here, and we don't intend to risk that. I'm sorry. I can toss you a little bit of food, a little bit of water, but after that I need to send you on your way. Nothing personal." Daren always hated this part of the job the most. Usually they'll break down and start crying at this point, or they'll get angry and demand to be let in. Either way, it never helped them, and they always ended up being turned away.

Alan's heart sunk. He expected this would happen, but there was still that small sliver of hope inside him that he clung to. As Daren spoke, he could feel that sliver of hope slowly start to fade away. He hung his head. He didn't know what to say, this was his last best hope. He didn't want to have to go back to sleeping in caves again, or living in the wilderness again, or running from mobs everyday just to stay alive. He looked back up at Daren, desperation in his eyes.

"Please... I-I was in the Capitol University. I was a student, I can help-"

"I'm sorry, we already have everything we need. I told you, we can't let you in. I'm going to have to ask you to-"

"I'm an alchemist! I'm an alchemist!"

"You _need_ to leave-... Wait, what?" Daren stopped himself mid sentence. "You're a what?" Alan saw his opportunity and vehemently nodded his head.

"An alchemist! I'm an alchemist! I was at the Capitol University when the invasion began. I was almost through with my studies! I was an apprentice under Master Dodin, the best alchemist in the University! In all of Minecraftia, even. I can help you guys! My focus was healing potions, but I can make poisons and other potions too! See?" Alan quickly fumbled with his backpack, pulling out a vial of a bright, red liquid. He held it up for Daren to see. " _See?_ I made this. I can make you more, a lot more. All I need are the ingredients and a brewing stand. You just got to let me in. _Please!_ " Alan continued holding the vial up, his breathing quickening. He looked for any sort of emotion in Daren's face that might indicate whether or not he'll let him in, but he saw nothing. Only a furrowed brow and a frown, like he was heavily thinking about something. Finally, after what felt like hours, Daren reached over beside him and rang a large bell twice.

 _ **GONG! GONG!**_

* * *

"Ow, gentle, gentle!" Alan yelped.

"Hold still," Daren ordered. He watched on as Alan got a pat down from Zeke. Zeke was a brute of a man. All brawn, no brains, he was definitely the muscle of Hunter's Watch which made him especially useful for situations like this. "Any bites?" Daren asked. Zeke took a few seconds before grunting out a reply.

"Nah, I can't rightly say that he has any. I don't think he's much of a threat either. All he has on him is this sword and this little boot-knife," Zeke said, tossing the small knife away from them. Alan held his arms out in a "T" formation. He could understand some paranoia, but with a guy like Zeke patting him down he felt like it was almost overkill. Unlike Daren, there was nothing subtle about Zeke. Huge man, big muscled, long beard with a few graying hairs, and an iron sword the size of a small child dangling from a holster on his hip. Yeah, they didn't have to worry about him taking on a guy like Zeke. Alan was more concerned, though, about the man standing off behind the gate. While Daren and Zeke went outside the gate to search Alan, the man stayed behind and just watched.

"Take his sword and bring him in," the man ordered. Daren and Zeke immediately complied, picking up Alan's sword and marching him in front of them.

The iron gate opened, presumably by the man from the other side, and Alan was practically shoved through by Zeke. Once they were all through, the gate immediately slammed shut. Alan, though nervous as to what they planned to do with him, couldn't help but look around out of curiosity. The town had several wooden houses and a gravel walkway down the middle of the town connected all houses and buildings together. The houses weren't large, most were one story high with the exception of one building. If you were to follow the walkway, you'd run into a pier at the very end of the town that was overlooking Lake Calamari. _Fresh water,_ Alan thought. He could tell these people really had their stuff straight. While he was looking around, he almost didn't notice the unnamed man walk over to him. Placing his hands on his shoulder, the man smiled at Alan.

"Welcome! Welcome to Hunter's Watch! She's a beauty, isn't she? Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Frederick and I'm the leader of this here settlement. And you are...?"

"Alan. My name is Alan, it's a pleasure to meet you, sir, I really appreciate you all letting me in like this, I-" Frederick waved his finger in front of Alan's face, stopping him. Frederick was an older gentleman, probably in his late 50s. His face was tanned and leathery, with two beady green eyes and by the way he pronounced his "r's" his accent was distinctly Capitol, likely born and raised there before the invasion. Like Zeke, he also had a beard, but his was much shorter and almost completely white.

"Now, Alan, we would love to just accept everybody into our gates on their word, but as I'm sure you're aware these are... troubling times we live in, wouldn't you agree?" Alan nodded, causing him to smile even further. "Good, good. Truth is, we can't afford to just let anybody in. We'd all starve if we did that. Or worse. But I like the look of you, Alan, and the truth is we need an alchemist. So, I've got a little test for you," Frederick's smile was the whitest Alan had ever seen. He could have sworn he could see his reflection on his teeth.

 _At least the dude still cares about personal hygiene,_ Alan thought.

Frederick told Alan about a resident that they had in Hunter's Watch: Hunter. Hunter had gone into the Nether a few days ago to see if he could scavenge some nether mushrooms. While he was down there, he got ambushed by a group of Zombie pigmen who sliced his shoulder with a sword, and he also got a pretty bad burn from a fire as we was trying to escape. He made it back to Hunter's Watch, but due to their lack of alchemist or alchemy training, they couldn't properly tend to his wounds with any healing potions.

"If you'll craft us a healing potion and a potion of regeneration," Frederick said, "we will welcome you into our community with open arms." He opened his arms for emphasis. Alan nodded. It seemed simple enough.

"Do you guys have any materials or a brewing stand? I can make potions, sure, but I don't have any of the ingredients on me," Alan asked, pointing to his backpack that was feeling rather light now that he thought about it. Frederick just laughed.

"Oh, I don't think you got to worry about ingredients..."

"Ho. Ly. Shit..." Alan could hardly believe his eyes. Trunks and trunks full of empty water vials, redstone dust, gold shavings, nether wart, preserved spider eyes, sugar, blaze powder, gunpowder, you name it and they had it. But they didn't just have it, they had _chests_ full of it. The last time Alan had seen such a huge alchemy stockpile was at the Capitol University. Frederick and Daren had led him into a house on the left side of town and into the house's basement which was actually a huge alchemy lab. Zeke, however, refused to leave the gate unattended and went to go keep watch. They told him that it used to be their previous alchemist, Sofie's, house before she was killed by a group of mobs outside of the walls when she went to collect alchemy ingredients. "Sucks about your previous alchemist," Alan piped up, surveying the alchemy stock. Frederick clicked his tongue while shaking his head sadly.

"Yes, terrible business, that. Sofie was the light of this town, such a sweet girl. She still has a sister here though, our redstone engineer, Lana. I'm sure you'll meet her shortly." Frederick patted Alan's shoulder. "Now, let's see that alchemy magic, eh?" Alan grinned, eager to prove himself, and immediately started getting the ingredients ready. Keeping a guard at the door's entrance, Daren still had his spear in hand. Just in case.

"Frederick," Daren called out. "A word with you in private, please?" Frederick nodded and excused himself from Alan's presence as he walked over to see Daren. Daren gently pulled Frederick through the door back into the hallway so Alan wouldn't hear.

"What's wrong, Daren?"

"Lana is not going to like this. I already told Zeke to go send word to her, Hunter, and George, but when she finds out we're giving her Sofie and Rinoa's old house, she's going to be irate." Daren whispered. Lana was still trying to get over Sofie's death, and now recently this whole business that happened with Rin? No, she was not going to stand for this. Frederick rubbed his forehead and sighed.

"And what would you have me do, Daren? Have George build him a new house and move the entire alchemy lab in there? No, I'm sorry, but Lana is just going to have to live with it. She's lucky she's even still living here at all what with her sister being a murderous harlot," Frederick spat out. It's true. Rinoa did kill William, and Frederick had a right to be upset about that considering he was William's uncle.

"Lana had nothing to do with what Rinoa did. She's the one who told us about it in the first place, remember?" Daren reasoned. "Besides, like Hunter told us, Rinoa's gone now, hundreds of miles away, and she doesn't have her compass. She's completely lost, there's no way she'll be able to survive a week by herself out there."

"But that doesn't bring my nephew back..." Frederick sounded discouraged. Daren could tell William's death took a toll on him, especially when he found out that one of their own was the one to kill him. He placed his hand on Fredrick's shoulder.

"I know, Frederick, I know. Come on, let's go check up on the Alan, see if he's been able to-"

"Finished!" they heard Alan yell out in the other room. Looking at each other incredulously, they walked in to see Alan standing triumphantly with 2 potions in his hand: a potion of healing and a potion of regeneration. Daren could hardly believe his eyes, and looked up at Alan's beaming face.

 _He finished that fast? ..._ _Who is this guy?_

* * *

Hunter was laying on the bed in Hunter's Watch's infirmary ward trying not to focus on the pain. Making his way through the nether with a gouge in his shoulder and a severe burn on the side of his head wasn't easy, but it wasn't the hardest thing he's ever had to do since the mob invasion. Still, now that he was back in Hunter's Watch, the damages were starting to take its toll. He had bandaged the wound on his shoulder best he could, but infection had set in and if he didn't do something soon he was beginning to wonder if amputation might be the only solution. As for the burn on his head, well, if the infection _did_ kill him at least he wouldn't have to deal with the pain from his burns anymore. He was certain he also had some muscle damage as well, but compared to the pain in his shoulder and head he could barely notice. Using his good arm, he gently touched his the gauze wrapped around his shoulder.

 _Squik!_

He shuddered. He was pretty sure skin wasn't supposed to sound like a wet rag getting rung out. "Dammit, Rinoa," he muttered to himself. Closing his eyes, he could still see her. Laying on the ground, holding her ribs, cursing at him. And then watching her figure disappear as the nether portal closed around him. He didn't want to do it, but she left him no choice.

"She really gave you hell, didn't she?" Lana spoke up, sitting in the chair next to him. Hunter laughed wearily.

"She's one hell of a fighter, I'll give her that. That being said, if you could do me a favor and run with the lie I told Frederick and the others about me getting this from a zombie pigman and some fire, I'd appreciate it." Lana giggled and nodded, brushing her dark, red hair from her face. She was the only one Hunter felt he could tell the truth to. If Frederick were to find out that Rinoa had his compass and that he had nearly killed Hunter to get it, well, he didn't want to think of _what_ he would do. Lana, though, was Rinoa's sister. If anybody could understand, it was her.

"Thank you, Hunter. I know Frederick wanted you to... you know."

"Yeah, well, Frederick needs to remember that this town is named after _me,_ not him. He may be our leader, but he's not our ruler. Rin was just as much a victim as William and Sofie were. I wasn't about to kill her like that." Of course, he didn't tell Lana how much her sister made him want to kill her, especially after her little stunt with the hatchet to his shoulder. "Say, have you been outside yet? Seen this new alchemist guy we're supposedly getting? Name's 'Alan' from what I heard." He was curious. If this Alan guy was a real deal healer like he claimed he was, he could probably help Hunter with his wounds. Lana's face darkened at this.

"We had an alchemist, Hunter: my sister. Sofie was the only alchemist we needed." Lana spoke, barely able to hide the anger in her voice. She knew it wasn't fair to be angry, Sofie's death wasn't anybody's fault, but she still couldn't help but feel a deep sense of rage burning deep inside her. Hunter awkwardly fidgeted in the bed.

"Yeah, well- yeah... I mean, I was just, you know, wondering if you had seen him is all."

"No, I haven't," she responded back coldly.

Hunter didn't know what to say, so he just turned to look out the window. _Lana may not like it, but..._ He tried moving his shoulder only for the pain to stop him. _This alchemist guy might be my best chance._

His concentration was interrupted by someone knocking at his door. "Come in!" he called out. Immediately, Daren and Frederick came in, followed by someone he hadn't seen before. Alan, he assumed. Frederick gave a wave to both Hunter and Lana, greeting them. He then stood aside and let Alan in front of him.

"Alan," Frederick spoke up, "this is Hunter, and that's Lana. Lana, as I told you before, is our redstone engineer, and Hunter is... well... a hunter." Frederick laughed. Alan looked over at the bedridden man and raised his eyebrow, wondering if Frederick was playing a joke on him. Hunter noticed and laughed himself.

"It's true, it's true. A hunter named Hunter. I've heard it all my life, I'm used to it," Hunter always wondered if his parents were having fun when they named him that, considering he was trained as a hunter soon as he could just about walk. Meanwhile, Alan wondered why Frederick was the leader of Hunter's Watch if this guy, Hunter, was the one who the town was named after. He decided it's best not to bring that up.

"Well, it's nice to meet you all. I think I have something that might help you here, Hunter." Alan removed the two potions from his backpack. "Remove your bandage from your shoulder if you would for me, please. I'm gonna see if I can't fix you up." Hunter nodded and tried removing the bandage himself, but with little success. Lana stepped up to help him, much to his gratitude. Alan walked over and inspected the wounds, sitting down next to the chair beside Hunter's bed. The fresh smell of infection filled his nose, a scent he was very familiar with. Taking a closer look at the gash, he could see puss pockets filling up around the jagged edges of the cut... _Jagged edges..._

"Hmm... Hunter, how did you get this cut again?" Alan asked, looking at the shape of the gash. He noticed Hunter tense up for a second.

"Uh... A zombie pigman. Little bastard sliced me with one of those golden swords they carry around with them when I wasn't looking. Cut me real good, didn't he?" Hunter asked before letting out a nervous laugh. Alan's eyes narrowed.

 _This cut is way too jagged to be from any sword,_ he thought. A typical sword would have made a straight line as a slice. This cut was crooked, like it had been hacked with an axe of sorts. Alan could tell he was lying, but...

"Oh well, just curious," he smiled at Hunter before popping the cap off the vial the potion of healing was kept in. "Now, stand still and relax your breathing. This shouldn't sting too much." Alan prepared to pour the vial on the wound. Before he could, however, he felt someone grab his wrist. _Hard._

"Wait," the voice said. Alan turned to see Lana staring down at him. Her eyes looked like they were shooting imaginary arrows at him. If looks could kill...

"What's wrong?" Alan asked.

"Did you guys test it before now?" Lana asked, turning to Frederick and Daren. Frederick looked at Daren and watched him shake his head. "No? Then how do you know he isn't trying to poison us?"

"Woah, wait, hold up... what?" Alan asked, trying to tug his arm away from Lana's grip, but to no success. Daren frowned and looked over at Hunter laying on the bed. Hunter shrugged.

"You know, at this point, I don't really even care if it _does_ kill me, so if we could just..."

"We don't _know_ anything about this man, guys. We don't know who his friends are or what he's planning on doing. We know nothing." Lana slowly unsheathed a dagger holstered on her hip, Alan's eyes widened and Daren took a step forward.

"Lana, take it easy now. I don't think Alan's trying to poison anybody," Daren said, trying to appeal to Lana's senses. Lana looked back down at Alan and into his eyes. _He's scared. He's hiding something,_ she thought. After a few tense seconds, Alan felt her grip on his wrist tighten, but then loosen. She smiled.

"You're right, you're right," Lana laughed as Alan let out a sigh of relief. "Still," she continued, "Gotta make sure!" Her grip tightened again and Alan felt his arm tugged back before he saw Lana bury her knife into his forearm near his wrist. The shock and the pain was enough for him to drop the vial on Hunter's bed. Lana quickly pulled the knife back out of his arm and stepped back, just in time for Daren to grab her by the hair and pull her backwards down to the ground.

"Lana! What the hell is wrong with you!?" Daren yelled, peering down at her on the ground.

"He shouldn't have any problems using that health potion if it isn't poison, right? So go ahead, Alan. Use it!" Lana sat up, rubbing her head from where her hair was tugged. She was confident that she had caught him.

Alan was staring down at his wound, still feeling the pain. It was already bleeding heavily, she had definitely cut a vein or two. Scrambling to find the vial that he dropped, he noticed that it, thankfully, landed bottom side down on Hunter's bed, saving the life-saving contents within from spilling out. Not caring about anything but the potion, he leaned over Hunter to grab the vial, before pouring the entire bottle on his wrist. He watched as the red liquid mixed with the blood, creating a tidal wave of crimson on his forearm. There was a loud hissing sound that filled the room. Alan couldn't do anything but stare at his wound, waiting for the potion to do its work. Seconds went by, and he could feel the tissue start to mend itself together. The pain in his wrist started to fade. And then, just like that, the hissing stopped. Still breathing heavily, he used his good hand to wipe away the blood and potion mixture from his wrist. Wiping it away revealed...

"It's gone... completely," Hunter said, amazed. Sure enough, the wound had completely stitched itself together, no more bleeding, not even a scar. All within a matter of about half a minute. Daren, Frederick, and even Lana were all speechless. Alan turned to Lana who was still sitting on the ground and showed her his wrist.

"Good enough for you?" Alan liked to consider himself an easy-going man, but getting stabbed in the wrist for no reason surprisingly put him in a sour mood with Lana. Lana just looked back at him with her eyes on fire as if _he_ was the one to stab her in the wrist. She promptly got up and headed toward the door.

"Lana, wait-" Daren moved to block her.

"Let her go, Daren. Let her go," Frederick ordered, stopping Daren. Lana walked out the door, slamming it behind her. Frederick walked over to Alan and took his forearm in his hands surveying where the wound previously was before. He traced his fingers over the skin feeling for any sort of scarring or bumps or anything. Nothing. "Well," he exclaimed, "I guess you'll just have to make another one for Hunter now," he let go of Alan's arm and patted him on the back. "I am sorry, Alan. Lana has, well, she's gone through a pretty rough few weeks. We all have, in fact. I hope you'll forgive her paranoia and know that I will certainly talk to her about it."

 _Fuck that,_ Alan thought to himself. He appreciated it, but the memory of having a knife dug into his wrist by a complete stranger was still fresh to him. It would probably take him a little while to be on speaking grounds with this Lana lady, much less forgiving her.

"Thanks, but you don't have to worry about me making another potion," Alan dug into his backpack and pulled out another potion of healing. "I have a spare that I made a couple months back. Hunter will be just as fine using this one." Alan looked back at Hunter, only to notice that in his panic for the healing potion awhile ago, he had completely bled all over Hunter's bedsheets. "Oh... shit, sorry about that." Hunter shrugged, eyeing the potion.

"Give me that potion and you can piss all over my bedsheets if you want, I don't care." Alan laughed uneasily at the joke, then poured half the potion of healing on Hunter's shoulder, and the other half on Hunter's burn wound on his head. The burn wound healed almost immediately, but the shoulder wound would clearly need another potion of healing or two to fully get rid of the infection and close up the wound. Still, Hunter already felt better.

"My God... that feels amazing," Hunter said, looking at his shoulder as the hissing from the potion subsided. The wound had closed substantially, but not all the way, and the infectious puss had nearly entirely been cleansed. And the pain! The pain had receded so much that he didn't even notice anymore. The burn on the side of his head was completely gone, leaving only a bald splotch where the hair burned off. Hunter didn't care, though, he already felt better.

Daren looked on at this, still shocked. _This guy's better than even Sofie was_ , he thought. He watched Alan describe to Hunter how to properly ingest the potion of regeneration to help for his muscle damage and also infection. Drink potions of regeneration for internal damage such as broken bones, muscle tears, or blood loss, and apply a potion of healing to surface damage wounds, such as cuts. "Remember, a potion of healing won't help you if you drink it," Alan explained, "it'll just give you a bad stomach ache." Hunter nodded, taking a swig of the regeneration potion. Daren looked over to Frederick to see he was already looking at him. Frederick grinned and then gave a thumbs up.

They just found themselves a new member.

* * *

"The vote will be held tomorrow about our decision to allow you to stay," Daren explained. He had walked Alan over to his new home, Sofie and Rinoa's old home, and was dropping him off at the front door. Night had already fallen, and another day was over. "That being said, I think I can safely assure you that you'll be accepted. Until then, you'll be on watch. You'll be staying here tonight, and after tomorrow it's all yours. So, don't leave the house tonight under any circumstances. No creeping around, no snooping, no stealing, keep your feet inside this house until I come and collect you tomorrow morning, understood?"

Alan almost couldn't believe what was happening. He had gone from being homeless, sleeping in a cave, to now having his own home and living inside a walled off community, safe from any mobs or griefers. It was all he could do to keep himself from yelling in excitement. "Understood!" He was grinning ear-to-ear. Daren nodded, and began to walk away. "Daren," Alan stopped him. Daren turned around, his eyebrow raised inquisitively. "Thanks," Alan said. Daren sort of just stared for a moment, before giving a slight smile and another nod and then walking off to go relieve Zeke's watch at the gate.

Alan walked into his new home for the first time without an escort. Closing the door behind him, he realized how dark it was. _Well, that's no good._ Fumbling around in the dark for a few minutes eventually led to him finding some torches and a piece of flint and steel. Striking the steel, he lit up a torch and used it to light the fireplace. It was a cozy house. One bedroom with two mattresses. The living room, dining room, and kitchen were all grouped together in one room, with a small lounge area and a fireplace. Of course, the house made up for its size with the huge size of its basement. Thinking of the basement got Alan thinking.

"I should make some potions tonight and offer them as gifts for the others tomorrow at the vote," he thought aloud. He figured the only two people whose vote he might not have would be Lana (for sure) and "George" the mason that he never got to meet. Still, he was certain that maybe a potion of speed or a potion of strength for everybody would be enough to show them that he intended to make himself useful. Making his way down to the basement, torch in hand, he made it to the alchemy lab. Placing the torch on the sconce on the wall, he started looking around to try and find the blaze powder. He knew he had seen it in one of these chests. Digging around in them, Alan could tell that the previous alchemist, Sofie, was not very organized. The blaze powder was in the same chest as the gunpowder, a big no-no. Alan mumbled profanities to himself as he tried to sort through all of it.

Making his way to the chest marked as "poison," he decided he might as well organize that chest too. While sorting through some jars of spider eyes, he felt the glass slip through his fingers. He tried to catch the jar as it fell, but only succeeded in swatting it away. Alan closed his eyes and waited for the terrible sound of crashing glass, but thankfully the jar's glass was so thick that it bounced off the floor... only for it to roll behind one of the chests in the corner of the room. Alan's relief faded into annoyance and he let out an exasperated groan as he made his way over to the chest. Grabbing it from the sides, he pulled the chest out away from the wall to get to the jar. The chest, of course, was heavier than he imagined and he had to strain quite a bit just to get it to budge. Finally, after about a minute, he was able to move it enough to fit his arm through the crack. Peering into the crack, he could barely see anything, not enough light in the room. He reached in there, feeling around for the jar. He felt his fingertips brush up against something... wooden?

"What the hell?" Alan muttered. Is that a stick? He grabbed the wooden shaft and pulled on it until it _clicked_. In that instance, an entire wall on the left side of the alchemy lab whooshed open, making Alan jump from the sudden noise. Cursing, he looked over his shoulder to see a giant hole in the wall. "Oh shit, shit, shit, did I break that?!" Alan panicked. Rushing over to the wall to see the damages, he realized that this wasn't a hole at all. Looking into the darkness, he could see a tunnel, several meters long, with a red light at the end of it. _A hidden entrance to a hidden room?_ Alan thought. Looking behind him to make sure that nobody had heard the noise and was coming to check on him, Alan turned back toward the secret tunnel. It was dark, but there was a definite light at the very end. Gulping, Alan took a step forward. And then another. And then another. Before he knew it, Alan was halfway down the dark hallway. Peering once again over his shoulder, this time to check to make sure that the entrance wouldn't close behind him, Alan decided to press on and soon found himself in a rather sinister looking red room.

The room was lit, but barely. There were several redstone torches on the walls still burning, casting a dark, red light over the entire room except for the back corner. The room itself was probably 60 square feet, big enough for a decent sized office. As for the contents, the only thing he could see was a single desk and chair positioned against the left side of the wall. _What the hell were you hiding back here, Sofie?_ Walking cautiously over to the desk, he looked for anything of interest. All he saw on the desk was a single book. He picked it up and opened it to the first page. The lighting made it a little hard to read, but he could make out enough to tell that this was a field journal of sorts. He read on.

 ** _"Day: 696_**

 ** _My name is Sofie Carr, and this is my journal. I'm writing this because I believe that I am on the breakthrough of a massive discovery, a discovery that can change the world back to how it used to be... I believe that I am close to finding a cure for zombism. No, I'm not crazy. My training in alchemy has led me to believe that I can create a cure. The question is: What ingredients are needed? This journal will chronicle my findings and experiments. THIS JOURNAL IS FOR MY EYES ONLY! Yes, that means you too, Rin."_**

"Holy shit," Alan whispered. This Sofie girl was on the verge of something big before she died. A cure for zombism? Is that even possible? Alan went to turn the next page, he had to read more. What did she find out? How close was she? And what was the point of having this desk in a dark, dreary room hidden away in the basement?

And that's when he heard it...

" _Grrraaaaghh_..." Alan's blood went cold as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He could recognize that raspy, shrill moan sound just as well as anyone still alive in Minecraftia could. _Zombie._

Alan spun around trying to locate the source of the noise. He reached for his boot dagger, only to remember that it's not there, and neither was his sword. Sweat beads were forming on his head and his breathing became rapid. He felt as if it were right behind him. He stood completely still, waiting to hear any footsteps or see any movement in the dark, red room. Instead, however, he heard clashing. Like something smashing against iron, and he could tell where it was coming from. The dark corner. Turning to the lightless edge of the room, he strained his eyes to see anything, but to no avail. Picking up one of the redstone torches from the sconce on the wall, he walked over to the corner, still prepared to jump and run at a moment's notice. He raised the redstone torch and gasped.

"Holy shit, Sofie... What the hell did you do?"

A male zombie, imprisoned behind metal bars in a cage just barely big enough to hold him with a steel chain wrapped around his neck fastened to a wall. The zombie lunged, only to get choked by his own leash. Reaching his hand out in a swiping motion, the Zombie clawed at the iron cage bars, wailing out a pitiful moan. Alan's breath stopped for a split second in horror.

 _Is it too late to go back?_

* * *

 _ **Next Chapter: The Iron Princess  
**_

* * *

 _ **A/N (PLS READ ME): Okay, so, let me say a few things. Firstly, thanks to everyone that has taken their time to read this story so far and review. I will always appreaciate reviews, good or bad, just so long as it's honest critique and not just "lol u suk lmao" (even though i do lmao.) But still, I'm really flattered. Secondly, this chapter took much longer to update than I wanted. I was actually hit by Hurricane Matthew a few weeks ago, and my area was one of the ones that went without power for awhile, so obviously I couldn't exactly do much writing. So, yeah, sorry for the delay. Thirdly, I really would appreciate any constructive critisism on this chapter. I've written before in the past (a long time ago), but this is actually my VERY first story ever where I've used 3rd person perspective instead of 1st person perspective. So if it seems kind of awkward at points, it's really because I'm not experienced in 3rd person. Like, at all. And if this chapter drags on (I had a lot to cram into one chapter) go easy on me, but tell me the truth. As always, I appreciate it. Thank you all for your precious time. I hope to update again soon.**_


	4. Book 1, Chapter 3: The Iron Princess

_**Book 1: The Mob Invasion  
Chapter 3: The Iron Princess  
**_  
 _ **Days Since the Mob Invasion: 744**_

* * *

Rinoa stood atop of a grassy hill, looking along the horizon. This was, thankfully, the last hill for miles, and as such it gave her the opportunity to inspect the surrounding area for the next mile or two thanks to her superior viewpoint. She was currently on the edge of the northern hill lands, an area right before the Red Mountains where the hills stretched for miles. She had been walking for the past three days up and down these hills, and she felt like her legs were about to crumble under her weight at any moment. Whenever she'd look at her compass, though, she immediately felt a burst of energy spring forth from her core, further driving her along her quest. If Hunter was right in saying that one day's journey in the Nether was the equivalent to about an eight days' travel in the Overworld, and they traveled in the Nether for three days, then that means she had about twenty-one days until she got to where she was going. She looked at her compass again, the red line of redstone dust pointing incessantly in front of her towards her destination. She still had quite the way to go until she reached Hunter's Watch. Until then? More walking.

"For Sofie," she reminded herself, clenching the compass in her hand before stuffing it back into her backpack.

Rinoa was, by most people's standards, a relatively fair looking woman. At 19 years old, her face had a youthful glow to it... once you removed all the dirt, grime, and blood specks of course. The mob apocalypse ruined everybody's notions of personal hygiene. She wore a long, white, button-down cloak over her wiry framed body with a brown leather cuirass over the cloak. The cloak itself only came down slightly above her knees, after which you could see the black leather pants and black boots that she wore. She had a leather belt fastened around the outside of her waist, with her iron hatchet dangling from the side of her right hip from a hoop and Hunter's iron sword dangling on the left. Her backpack was a simple, animal hide pouch with two straps for her arms and several compartments sewn into the inside to allow for some form of organization.

Perhaps Rinoa's most distinguishing feature, however, was her hair. Though you mostly couldn't see it behind the hood from her cloak, Rinoa had bright, pink hair that normally reached her upper back except when it was pulled back for her to wear her hood. She had started dying it as a child, a ritual that she had carried over into her young adult life, even after the mob invasion. It was sort of her constant thing that she could rely on. The world might have ended, but her hair was the same. In Rinoa's eyes, her hair was just about the only thing that had stayed the same since the mobs showed up.

At the top of the hill, Rinoa smiled as she took a deep breath, allowing the crisp, northern air to fill her lungs. Suddenly, a gentle yet cool breeze blew past her, fluttering her cloak in the wind. She shuddered, clenching her cloak and drawing it to her closely.

"Another reason to get to Hunter's Watch as fast as I can," she spoke to herself. "The cold months are coming." Wiping away a drop of snot with her glove, she carried on walking down the hill. Minecraftia was divided into two distinct geographical regions: North and South, with the Iron Mountains acting as a natural border between the two. The North, more mountainous and of a higher elevation, was noticeably cooler than its southern neighbor. However, winters in the North were nearly unbearable, and got even worse the closer you got to the Red Mountains, the utmost northern border of Minecraftia. The South, however, was much more temperate during the winter, but during the summer the humidity and heat were blistering. Multiple citizens prior to the mob invasion had homes on both sides of the Iron Mountains that they would travel to whenever the weather would be too extreme for their liking.

As for Rinoa, she was just happy to be alive.

Rinoa found herself looking up at the height of hundreds of pine trees. She was at the edge of a large, dark forest. A forest that she needed to walk through, judging by the compass. She turned to her left to see if there was any sort of way around. Nope, the treeline stretched for several miles at least. She turned to her right only to see the same thing. She sighed. She had never been this far up north before, the geography was completely new to her. She had never even heard of this forest before. Looking up towards the sky, Rinoa could see it was stained a light, yellowish orange. The sun would be setting soon, and she was exposed and in the open. She shook her head and kicked the dirt on the ground.

"I hate forests..." she muttered to herself. "Especially this one." The canopy of the trees was very thick, allowing for almost no light to pass through. _Anything could be lurking in there,_ Rinoa thought. Unbinding her hatchet from her belt, she took a few steps forward, before stopping. She had an idea.

Taking a few steps back until she was several yards away from the treeline, she let out a loud yell, as loud as she possibly could, before stopping. She clenched her hatchet and waited, her eyes squinting to see any movement. Patiently, she waited for a minute until, finally, she saw something.

Slowly creeping out of the darkness and into the twilight, Rinoa counted five zombies and a skeleton emerge from the dark bowels of the forest as they let out those dreadful, dead moans. Rinoa smirked. She had drawn them out, and it didn't take long for the zombies' black, rotten eyes to spot Rinoa. A small chorus of angry wails rang out as they slowly started shuffling over to her. Rinoa spat on the ground, disgusted by their green, peeling skin and stench. There was nothing Rinoa loved more than killing these abominations. Clutching the handle of her hatchet as hard as she could, she charged toward the zombies. Thankfully for her, they had formed in a near single-file line.

" _Graauugh-"_

 **THWAK!**

The zombie's groan was cut off by Rinoa delivering a powerful blow right on the top of the zombie's skull, splitting it open down to the roof of his mouth and immediately dropping him. _One down,_ Rinoa grinned at herself, admiring the green, yellowish blood staining her hatchet. The other zombies didn't seem too pleased by this, and lunged at her. Thinking quickly, Rinoa jumped backward, barely avoiding the zombies' reach. She then strafed to the left, clocking one of the zombies in the side of the head with full force, eliminating him as his limp body also fell. _Two._ Rinoa saw the rotten blood pouring out of its skull, the sight of it fueling her even more. She felt the rush of adrenaline reaching her lungs, every breath she took only seemed to be lighting her insides on fire. Rinoa laughed.

She _liked_ it.

Twirling her hatchet around, she whacked another zombie over the head with the blunt side. The blow cracked open the zombie's skull and brought it to its knees, but it wasn't enough to kill it. Rinoa raised the hatchet high above her head and slammed it as hard as she could down onto the zombie's cracked skull, smashing it open as chunks of rotten flesh and glops of blood sprung forth to stain her cloak.

"Three!" Rinoa said, laughing in ecstasy. The other two zombies were side by side now and advancing towards her rapidly, with the skeleton lagging shortly behind them. Rinoa backed up, allowing her to maintain a safe distance from them. "Hahaha! What's wrong!?" She asked, laughing. "Never had to work for your meal before?!" Rinoa jeered. Suddenly she sprang forward in a sweeping motion, slicing at the leg of the zombie on the right. The hatchet hit its mark, burying deep into the green leg of the zombie and cracking through the decayed femur bone. The right zombie tried to take another step, but without its leg support he simply collapsed to the ground. The left zombie lunged at Rinoa with his arms outstretched only for her to jump backwards again. "C'mon, you sorry sack of shit! You can do better than tha- OOF!"

Rinoa fell backwards, tripping over a root from a small tree in the ground. Landing hard on her back, she felt her neck jerk backwards before the back of her head smacked into the ground. Hard. Her vision got blurry for a second and her ears started ringing. "Oh shit..." she said, unable hear her words even though they were coming out her mouth. Lifting her head off the ground, she could see the blurring image of the final zombie towering over her, about to lung on her. Instinctively, she kicked the knee of the zombie, cracking it and bending the knee backwards. The zombie fell, but not how she wanted him to. Hunching forward, the zombie's knee buckled under him and he slumped directly onto Rinoa's chest. Her vision restoring, she struggled to look down only to see the zombie starting to bite out a chunk of her leather cuirass. Panicking, Rinoa grabbed the zombie by his shoulders and lifted him up, trying to push her off of him. The zombie's deafening screams came in between his bites as he bit only inches away from Rinoa's face, his drool splattering on her cheek. In that instant, Rinoa also felt something start to tug at her right boot, and her eyes widened. _The other zombie!_ In her struggle with the left zombie on top of her, she had completely forgotten about the right zombie that she had crippled but didn't kill.

Rinoa felt like this would be the end. If the ground zombie didn't bite her, then the one on top of her surely would. She tried again desperately to push the zombie atop her off, but he was clenching her cuirass too hard and he simply wouldn't let go. Just in that moment, however, Rinoa hear a wooshing sound. Like something was cutting through the air and coming straight toward them.

 **Thunk!**

The zombie on top of her immediately went limp and, curiously enough, Rinoa noticed an arrow sticking out of the top of his head. With the zombie's grip now loose, she inpulsively pushed the zombie off of her, before picking up her hatchet and smashing it into the head of the zombie on the ground at her boot, right before it was about to bite. But her threat wasn't over. Standing up, but still dazed, Rinoa looked around for a second before spotting the skeleton slowly approaching her. Getting her axe ready, Rinoa bent her knees a little preparing to strike. Right before she could pounce, however, an arrow wooshed right by her face, narrowly missing her head, before the arrow finally made contact with the skull of the skeleton as it shattered into hundreds of pieces.

Dumbstruck, Rinoa looked around for a second, then quickly turned behind her to see where the arrow came from.

* * *

Zoe was panting as she made her way to the source of the scream, her chest filling up with the cool, autumn air. She had heard a yell, not too far from where she was. She knew she probably shouldn't be rushing into danger like this, but she couldn't help it.

"Dammit, Zoe," she said through gasps as she sprinted over the hill toward her destination. "You can do this, just stay calm." She felt like her legs were on fire, but she kept running until, finally, she got over the top of the hill. Taking a few seconds to catch her breath, she looked down below for any sign of danger before she finally spotted the source of the scream she heard earlier. A lone woman dressed in white and black with only a single hatchet being attacked by about half a dozen zombies. "Shit!" Zoe yelped, noticing the clear danger this woman was in. She quickly unslung her bow from her shoulder and fumbled to pull an arrow out of the quiver. Her hands shaking, she accidentally dropped the arrow and had to quickly bend down to pick it up before finally getting a firm grasp on it. Pulling the arrow back, she aimed only to stop. The woman had already killed 3 of the zombies by herself while she had been fumbling for arrows. _Holy shit,_ Zoe thought to herself, impressed.

Just then, the lady cackled maniacally. "What's wrong?!" she yelled. "Never had to work for your meal before!?" Zoe then saw the lady spring forward with her hatchet with the speed of a trained soldier. The woman swung her axe from the side and caught one of the remaining zombies in the leg right in the thigh. The hatchet cut deep, and Zoe was almost certain the lady was about to cut the zombie's whole leg off in just one swing. She pulled back, and allowed the zombie to fall to the ground in front of her from his leg wound.

"C'mon, you missed me!" the woman taunted the remaining zombie after it failed to grab her. Zoe was beginning to get the idea that this lady didn't need her help at all, so she lowered her bow and put the arrow back in her quiver. The lady put her arms out, mockingly. "You can do better than tha-" and just like that, the lady in white tripped backwards over a small tree growing in the ground.

"Shit, shit shit!" Zoe said, realizing that the lady did, in fact, definitely need her help. Pulling the arrow out of her quiver once more, Rinoa began running down the hill to get closer to the lady to get a better shot at the zombie. At the base of the hill, Zoe realized that the lady was about to die if she didn't do something and fast. "I got to make the shot now, can't afford to waste anymore time," Zoe muttered, aiming down the arrow. The woman was holding the zombie out on top of her, but was unable to push her off due to the zombie's gnarled hand grabbing her by the cuirass. Zoe would probably only have one shot to get it right, so she aimed very carefully. Closing her left eye to better concentrate, she deeply inhaled before letting go of the bowstring.

The arrow went flying through the air before... _Yes!_ A perfect hit, right on top of the zombie's head. Zoe let out a sigh of relief as she saw the woman throw the zombie off of her. _I hope she's not bitten,_ Zoe thought to herself. Jogging forward a few more steps, she took another arrow out of her quiver and aimed at the final mob, a single skeleton. Although the woman was back on her feet, Zoe decided it would be better to not take any chances and eliminate the skeleton from a distance. Inhaling sharply, she let go of her arrow and watched it fly into the skeleton's skull. She couldn't help but smirk to herself as she watched the skull shatter like a glass bowl. Still, she was relieved it was over. Letting out a sigh of relief, she slung her bow back over her shoulder and walked forward to meet the undoubtedly grateful woman whose life she had just saved.

The woman stared in disbelief at Zoe as she approached. Zoe smiled to herself. She had left many people in shock before with her superior archery skills, this is true. By this point, she was used to leaving people's jaws on the ground in amazement, much like she had for this woman. Finally within talking distance, Zoe gave her saved damsel in distress a nod and a smile.

"Hi! Man, I sure am glad I ran into you when I did! Few more seconds and you would have been zom-zom food, haha! My name's-" Zoe was promptly cut off by a hard jab to her face by the woman, as she stumbled backwards and landed on her butt. "OWWW!" she yelled, holding her nose. "What the hell was that-?" Zoe was, once again, cut off by Rinoa kicking her in the chest to get her to lay on her back before stepping on her chest, pinning her there with her foot.

"Who are you? Who are you with? Have you been following me?!" Rinoa demanded, her hatchet raised above her head. Zoe squirmed, trying to free herself, but to no avail. "ANSWER ME!" Rinoa demanded, applying more pressure to Zoe's chest. Whimpering, the girl opened her mouth but Rinoa couldn't quite make out the words. "Louder," she ordered. "So I can hear you."

"Y-you're... crushing... my lungs!" Zoe said in between strained breaths. Rinoa squinted her eyes for a moment examining the lady. She clearly wasn't even twenty years old yet. After a second of hesitating, Rinoa finally lifted her foot off of the girl, letting her breath in a deep gasp of breath. After holding her chest for a few seconds, Zoe looked over at the lady whose life she had just saved, tears of anger streaming down her cheeks. "What's your problem, lady?! I save your ass and this is how you repay me?" Rinoa stared plainly at her showing no emotion.

"What's your name?" She asked. Zoe just shook her head in disbelief before slowly raising herself up off the ground. She was wearing brown leather armor with iron plating attached to the chest and thigh areas. This provided extra protection compared to a pure leather armor set while allowing her more flexibility and speed than traditional iron plating. Zoe figured it was the best of both worlds. Her black hair was tied up in a ponytail behind her head to allow her dark, brown eyes to aim better with her bow without having to worry about hair getting in the way.

"My name," Zoe said, dusting the dirt from her back, "is Zoe Winslet of the famous Winslet iron mines!" At this, Zoe placed her hands on her hips and struck of victory pose. "'The Iron Princess!' of Moneteian!" she exclaimed excitedly. _Once she realizes who I am,_ Zoe thought, _she'll be begging for my forgiveness after the stunt she just pulled! s_ he snickered. She examined Rinoa's face for any signs of recognition, only to see her blink slowly.

"...'The Iron Princess'?" Rinoa repeated. "Never heard of her," Rinoa remarked straight-faced. Zoe laughed nervously, starting to sweat a little.

"Oh, c'mon... The Winslet family of Monteian? The owners of the largest iron mines in Minecraftia? I was the daughter of the Winslet patriarch. Heir to the family fortune? People called me the Iron Princess since I was the only daughter?" Zoe explained, once again looking for any familiarity with the name in Rinoa's eyes. Still nothing. "Shit," she muttered. Rinoa just stared at the girl in disbelief. Was this girl serious?

"I know where Monteian is, it's to the west of here. But who cares about what your family was before the invasion?" Rinoa asked, rubbing the bits of zombie brain off of her hatchet and cloak. Zoe flinched at this, seemingly hurt.

"I-... well, listen, the truth is... I'm not sure if you could tell but, uh... I haven't really been outside much," Zoe said, rubbing the back of her head. Once again, Rinoa looked at her like she was insane.

"You... 'haven't been outside much'?" Zoe sighed, realizing she should probably clarify.

"Well, after the outbreak my family and our miners kind of just hunkered down in Monteian and waited for the military to show up. They never did. So... we had the iron, we had the workers, we had the tools. We built a wall around the town and decided to stay." Zoe explained. "I... I just left the town about two weeks ago. I kind of assumed nobody else was alive out here. You're the first person I've met since then." Zoe finished, shrugging. Rinoa looked at her in shock.

"You... You've been behind a wall since all of this? In Monteian?" she asked. Zoe nodded. Rinoa rubbed her brow. _No wonder this kid is clueless_. "How old are you, kid?" she asked. Zoe straightened her back and spoke up firmly.

"Seventeen," she said confidently. Rinoa raised her eyebrows, unimpressed. "Okay, okay... Sixteen, I think. I haven't really been keeping up with time since, well... you know."

"You were fourteen when all this started?" Rinoa asked, surprised. Zoe nodded again. "Damn..." Rinoa couldn't help but feel bad for attacking her earlier, especially considering the fact that she seemed to be relatively new to this and was just trying to help. She just exhaled, wondering if she should even ask her next question. "Why... did you leave the Moneteian?" she asked hesitantly. Zoe's eyes shot away from Rinoa's for a minute as she looked at the ground. Rinoa could tell she had struck a sore spot.

"What's your name?" Zoe asked, still looking at the ground. Rinoa decided it probably wasn't best to press the question, considering she already had an idea as to what could have happened to cause her to leave, with neither scenario being pretty.

"My name's Rinoa, Princess of Nothing. But, uh, you can call me 'Rin,' for short, " she responded with a small laugh. Zoe's demeanor perked up to how it had been before as she looked back up at Rin and extended her hand.

"Pleased to meet you, Rin! Glad to make a friend!" Rinoa flinched at the word 'friend'. Zoe's eyes were bright and full of a naivety that Rinoa hadn't seen in years. She was damaged, but unbroken. Rinoa believed her story about her being sheltered behind a wall, no other survivor would have came rushing to help another survivor fight off a group of mobs just because they wanted to help. Those survivors were usually the first to die. Zoe frowned, realizing that without any real survival skills, Zoe would probably die within a few weeks. It was surprising she had even lasted this long. Besides, she didn't need somebody following her. Not where she was going.

"Look, Zoe," Rinoa started, her face lowered. "I don't think you wanna-" She stopped suddenly, hearing a rustling coming back from the treeline. _Another zombie?_ Rinoa turned and readied her hatchet and Zoe readied her bow. Just then, a green creeper crawled out from the brushes of the treeline, hissing all along the way. Rinoa's eyes widened as she took a few steps back. "Run..." she warned. Zoe looked at her, confused.

"What? Why? I can just-"

"Run!" Rinoa yelled quickly as she turned and began to run. She was a relatively decent fighter when it came to zombies, but creepers? No way. She had seen countless men blown to literal pieces by creepers before. There was no way to fight them up close without them combusting with the force and power of several sticks of TNT. The only way to fight them was with a bow and arrow. _Wait,_ Rinoa thought to herself. _A bow and arrow!_

Rinoa turned around from running just in time to see Zoe let go of her bowstring, sending an arrow flying directly into the creeper's head. The arrow pierced through the leafy skin of the creeper, taking out a huge chunk of the head as it passed through. A loud " _hisssss"_ came out of the hole in the creeper's head as he collapsed sideways on the ground, its leaf body rustling as he fell, defeated. Finally, the leaves of the body began to blow away in the wind and scatter, leaving nothing behind except a fine powder on the ground. Zoe, clearly confused, turned to look at Rinoa.

"I was trying to tell you, I could just shoot it. What are you freaking out for?" Zoe asked. Rinoa looked on clearly astounded.

'Three headshots..." she muttered to herself almost in a daze. "Three...in a row...?"

"What? I can't hear you?" Zoe asked, cupping her hand to her ear to try and hear her friend's words. Rinoa walked back over to her, looked at where the creeper was shot, then to Zoe, then back to the creeper.

"Three headshots. In a row. The zombie, the skeleton, and the creeper... Why the hell does 'The Iron Princess' know how to shoot a bow that well?" Rinoa asked inquisitively. Zoe just shrugged.

"Been shooting since I was 6. Father said it would be good sport. I only ever shot targets, though. Mostly for competitions and contests. I never hunted until I left the wall... Uh, three headshots is a good thing, right?" Zoe asked nervously, rubbing her shoulder.

"Wow... Just, wow..." Rinoa shook her head in disbelief. This girl was full of surprises. Still, with archery skills like that, maybe she wasn't so hopeless after all. Rinoa looked up and stared into Zoe's eyes intently, catching Zoe off guard.

"Woah, h-hey, did I do something wrong?"

"Where were you planning on going?" Rinoa asked.

"W-what?"

"Where?!" Rinoa asked again, firmer this time. Zoe looked nervous and started to stammer.

"I-I was just walking around trying to find somebody. I wasn't really going anywhere, I just thought that I might run across a community or maybe another wall to hide behind or something. I wasn't going anywhere, I swear!" Zoe stumbled over her words rapidly. Rinoa stared into her eyes for a few more seconds and determined that she was telling the truth. Rinoa shook her head again for a second, not believing what she was about to do.

"Well then, Zoe. I got a proposition for you," she started, finally holstering her hatchet. Zoe cocked her head to the side, clearly intrigued. "Come with me," Rinoa said. "I'm going further south. We stick together, at least until you find a safe community to join up with, and we'll have a better chance of surviving. With your archery skills and my survival skills, we'll be able to take care of each other. I'll help you, you help me. That sound fair?" Rinoa held her hand out for a handshake, waiting for Zoe to seal the deal. Zoe looked awestruck for a second, almost as if she was unable to grasp fully was Rinoa was offering. Soon, though, her face brightened and she grabbed Rinoa's hand and shook enthusiastically.

"Yes! I hoped you might say that! It's been so lonely these past few weeks, it's nice to finally meet someone else! Even though you did, you know, clock me in the face just awhile ago. But still! Glad to be aboard for the trip, friend!" Zoe had spent the past two weeks alone. It was the longest she had ever gone without seeing anyone in her entire life. The odds that she would ever find anyone at all seemed slim to her. But finding someone that was willing to travel with her and help her out? Well, she felt like the luckiest gal alive.

As for Rinoa, well, she felt a little guilty. She felt as if she were almost using Zoe's archery skills to her advantage. But she meant what she said: She would help Zoe find a safe community in exchange for her help. And, in Rinoa's mind, that seemed like a fair deal. She could tell by Zoe's sudden confused expression, though, that she had a question.

"What is it?" Rinoa asked.

"I was just wondering... where are _you_ going? Aren't you looking for a safe place too? Why would you be dropping me off and not staying with me?" Legitimate questions, Rinoa figured. Still, the less she knew, the better.

"I'm going south, like I said. Way south. It'll probably be another month before I make it to where I'm going. I'm trying to meet up with... well, let's just call them some 'old friends' and be done with it," Rinoa practically snarled out the word 'friends.' Still, Zoe seemed none the wiser at this, and smiled.

"Oh, well, it's always great to have friends, right?" she asked, clearly oblivious to Rinoa's anger. Rinoa, once again, just looked at her and blinked slowly while wondering just what exactly she had gotten herself into.

"Yeah... Friends are... nice?"

"So," Zoe said optimistically, turning on her heels to the forest. "We going through there?" Rinoa nodded, turning to the forest herself.

"You think you're up for it?" Rinoa smiled, looking over at her new traveling companion. Zoe let out a nervous chuckle and rubbed the back of her head.

"Well... Uh... I hope so, heheh..." she giggled nervously without a hint of confidence to be found for miles. That wasn't exactly the answer Rinoa wanted to hear, her smile turning into a frown as she hung her head and sighed before unsheathing her hatchet again.

 _This girl is going to get herself killed,_ Rinoa thought to herself as she started her walk towards the forest. Her new friend ran to catch up with her, eagerness in her eyes, a bow on her shoulder, and a quiver of arrows on her back.

* * *

 **Next Chapter: Testificate**

* * *

 _A/N: Did the proofreading for this chapter at 1:30 a.m., so if there's any glaring grammar or spelling errors please let me know either in a private message or in a review and I will attempt to fix it. As always, reviews are always appreciated, any constructive critisism is worth its weight in gold, and if you like the story so far favorite it and/or follow it, as I'll be doing my best to update regularly. Thank you all for you time._


	5. Book 1, Chapter 4: Testificate

_**Book 1: The Mob Invasion  
Chapter 4: Testificate**_

 _ **Days Since the Mob Invasion: 744  
**_

* * *

Redstones torches were quite the curiosity. Used by inhabitants of Minecraftia for centuries, these "torches" were not really torches at all. Attaching a chunk of redstone to the end of a stick with a piece of rope or twine, you could shake the stick and the redstone would react to the movements by producing a dim, red glow. Just shaking the torch for a few minutes would give the redstone enough energy to produce enough light to last for one or two months. The major drawback from redstone torches in comparison to regular torches was that the light they produced was not enough for most situations where light was required. Another drawback being that redstone was much harder to come across than coal. Still, Sofie had put enough redstone torches along the walls in the small, underground alchemy lab that Alan was able to clearly see most of the room... Except for one dark corner in the back of the room, in which a horrible groan lazily rung out.

"Grarghh... Graaauugh..."

Alan shuddered as he heard the zombie's moans from the cage. Even though the zombie was shackled to the wall and also locked inside a cage, he couldn't help but check over his shoulder from time to time to make sure the zombie was still in place. He had been reading Sofie's journal for the better part of an hour by now. He realized that Sofie was an incredibly detailed individual when it came to alchemy, with not even one step of her brewing process being left out in her writing. The journal mostly contained various alchemy experiments, all of them failed from what he could tell, about how to cure zombism. Occasionally, however, she would include a snippet from her own personal life in between the pages of complex alchemy recipes.

* * *

" _ **Day: 703**_

 _Gunpowder and I got into another fight today. She really doesn't like the fact that me and Sugar are seeing each other. Maybe she thinks I'm going to move out and move in with him? I don't know. As much as I love him, I couldn't move out, not right now. I can't leave the alchemy lab behind, not when I feel like I'm so close to making a breakthrough! I don't think I could convince Cobblestone to build me another lab like this either. He's so funny sometimes! Redstone and I had tea earlier this evening. It was nice catching up with her._

 _I should try to see how gold shavings react in my next trial. Thankfully, since the mobs took over the Empire, gold is a lot less valuable than it used to be! I think I have a few spare coins lying around. Will document my findings tomorrow."_

* * *

Alan scratched the back of his head after finishing up the entry. Gunpowder, Sugar, Cobblestone, and Redstone were all codenames that she had given several members in Hunter's Watch from what he could tell from her previous entries as well as this one. As of right now, it was impossible for him to determine who was who in terms of the codenames. He also couldn't really figure out the reasoning for her giving the others codenames in the first place other than maybe she was scared that her sisters, Rinoa and Lana, might find her diary? Which also brought along some questions as to what exactly happened between the three of them. Sofie and Rinoa were dead according to what Frederick and Daren had told him earlier today before leaving him at his new house, but how did they die? Frederick and Daren both seemed a little cryptic about it. Maybe they just didn't want to bring up any bad memories? And why was Lana so hostile toward him earlier? He rubbed the area on his forearm where Lana had stabbed him earlier that day and where he had used a potion of healing to mend the wound. All traces of the stab were gone, but he still couldn't help but shudder as he remembered the feeling of Lana's dagger slicing into his flesh and rubbing against the bone. Was the reason why she didn't like him because he was taking her sister's spot as the alchemist? He sighed and closed the journal.

 _At any rate, there's no point in me trying to decipher a dead girl's diary,_ Alan thought to himself. _Besides, it doesn't look like she was successful in finding a cure anyway.  
_ _  
_He looked back at the dark corner, hearing the metal from the zombie's shackles clatter against the cobblestone wall. A cure for zombism? There's no way. Sofie might as well have been trying to invent a cure for death. Still, as naive as her goal may have been, he couldn't help but admire what she was trying to accomplish.

Walking out of the dark alchemy lab, he made sure to close the hidden entrance to the room behind him. He walked up the stairs and made his was to the lounge area of his new home. Settling in a chair in front of the burning fireplace, he leaned his head back as he rested for the first time in months. When you're living on your own out there, without any house or community to keep you safe, taking a moment to just so much as sit down and rest your eyes is a dangerous luxury. You never know if when you open your eyes again whether or not you'll be surrounded by zombies, creepers, or griefers. Sleeping is even worse, leaving you vulnerable for even longer. Alan considered himself a lucky man every morning that he woke up harm-free.

But now? He didn't have to worry about that. Not anymore. For once, he could finally just close his eyes and rest. Not even bothering to try and make it to one of the beds, Alan leaned back in the stiff, wooden chair and drifted off into the best night's sleep he'd had in over a year.

* * *

 _ **Days Since the Mob Invasion: 745**_

* * *

"All in favor, say 'aye'!" Frederick bellowed before the congregation of Hunter's Watch. Immediately there was a small chorus of "aye!" from the citizens. Alan looked around at the people within the makeshift courthouse, still trying to familiarize himself with the faces and names.

Daren, the first citizen of Hunter's Watch that he had met, was probably the one he was most well acquainted with so far. Wearing full chainmail at all times, Daren was no doubt the town's designated warrior. He had a long spear in his hand that was taller than he was with an obsidian tip, and a short spear attached to his back with an iron tip. On his left wrist, he had a crude, metal plated buckler that looked like it had seen better days. His long, black hair was tied in a ponytail behind his head, and he had a short, black beard. Always watchful, his eyes always looked stern and calculating, as if he was looking for the first sign of trouble in any situation. He appeared older than he was, but Alan figured his real age was probably in his middle to early 20s. He voted "aye."

Another person Alan was familiar with was Hunter, who was sitting in the corner in the back of the room smoking tobacco from a pipe, barely concerned with the vote. Hunter, true to his name, looked like a typical hunter gatherer. He donned a light, leather armour with various ocelot and bear furs sewn on the outside for warmth. He had messy blond hair with a patchy beard that he didn't seem too concerned with tidying up. A young man, Hunter looked like he could have just turned 20. He also voted "Aye," albeit unenthusiastically.

And how could anyone forget Zeke? The dark, tall, muscular man who stood at least a foot above everyone else in the room. Zeke was, from what Alan could tell, the muscle to Frederick's brains. He was a slow talker, but he spoke loud. You could probably hear him whisper all the way across town, Alan thought. He was bald for the most part, and he had a long, wiry grey beard. His clothing consisted of some raggedy pants, a sleeveless twill shirt, and not much else. Not even shoes. Alan thought it weird that he lacked armour, until he saw the size of the sword dangling from his hip. Zeke had a long, two-handed iron sword sheathed to his side. Alan figured with a sword that large, Zeke probably wouldn't need armour; his enemies would all be dead before they could even get into striking distance. Zeke gave a boisterous "Aye!" in the vote.

A man that Alan hadn't had the opportunity to speak to yet was the man sitting in the front row. A middle-aged man by the name of George. He had disheveled brown hair, like he had just rolled out of bed. He had a long-sleeved, white shirt with some brown pants and boots. Alan noticed that he couldn't help but seem... antsy. He occasionally rocked back and forth in his seat like he couldn't sit still. And he kept looking toward the exit door longingly. In the vote, he voted "Aye," and then immediately got up to go leave.

 _Weird,_ Alan thought to himself.

And then there was the leader: Frederick. Frederick was a distinctly Northern man who looked like he had spent his entire life in the Capitol before the mob invasion. Pale, as most Northerners of Minecraftia were, Frederick was a very neat looking man. His white hair was neatly combed back with a freshly clean-cut face. Even from this distance, Alan could smell a strong scent of smelling spices on him. He clearly wasn't ready to give up his Capitol life of luxury, even in the middle of the end of the world. He wore a silky, purple robe with some well-oiled black boots. Compared to the rest of the group, Frederick looked like he was still living comfy and cozy back in the Capitol. Even his accent was unmistakably Capitol. Alan's was as well, but his was not nearly as thick as Frederick's. He did not vote in the process as he was the "judge" of Hunter's Watch and was not allowed to vote. Still, he seemed pleased with the outcome, and judging by the speech he gave Alan earlier yesterday, he was probably going to vote "aye," anyway. Frederick smiled at the end of the vote.

"Very good! Congratulations, Alan, you are officially-"

"Nay," a voice came out from the back of the room. Everybody turned to see Lana sitting in the back by herself. Her face was scornful as she looked directly at Alan. She was wearing a simple blue and white dress, with a small dagger hanging from her side attached to her belt. She had long, red hair that she let fall over her shoulders, and her eyes were a bright blue. If she hadn't stabbed him earlier and also been constantly been shooting glares at him, Alan might have even considered her pretty. She looked like she could be a year or two older than him, but not too much. She was sitting with her arms crossed, clearly displeased by the outcome of the vote.

Frederick looked over at Daren and Daren looked back to him. "Uh, I'm sorry?" Frederick asked Lana, just a little uncomfortable.

"I vote nay to him joining." Lana clarified bluntly, refusing to break eye-contact with Alan.

"I understand, Lana, but... well, the vote has already passed. He's officially a member of Hunter's Watch now." Lana shook her head at Frederick and stood up, brushing the wrinkles from her dress.

"Oh yeah? And what about Rin, eh? I don't recall you ever putting a vote up for-"

"You will _**not**_ mention that murderous bitch's name around me or anyone else anymore, do you understand?!" Frederick barked, silencing Lana. The sudden outburst made Alan jump, and he felt for his heart to make sure that it hadn't stopped beating. For a few tense seconds there was silence as Lana and Frederick stared each other down. Alan couldn't help but feel a little uneasy by the awkwardness of the situation as he started to sweat. Hunter, still smoking, was clearly starting to feel a little awkward himself as he looked over at Lana and let out a puff of smoke.

"Lana..." he called out. Lana looked over at him and he shook his head.

 _Not now,_ he mouthed silently to her.

She frowned at him, but didn't say anything. Finally, after what felt like an hour of tension, she turned and walked out, slamming the door of the courthouse behind her. Alan let out a sigh of relief, then turned to Daren beside him.

"What is _her_ problem?" Alan asked, starting to become more than a little annoyed at Lana's action's toward him since he arrived in Hunter's Watch.

"Wellp," Hunter let out, finally standing up, "She's a bit in... what's the word for it? Grief? Yeah, she's a bit in grief right now. Losing two of your sisters within a month will kind of do that to you." Hunter walked over to Alan and gave him a pat on the back. "But don't worry about her. You're in!" Hunter laughed. "Congratulations!"

"Congratulations indeed, Alan," Frederick said walking over to him. "I hope you won't let Lana's little outburst here today ruin your first impression of Hunter's Watch. I assure you, we're all absolutely thrilled to have you be a part of us. Isn't that right, Zeke?" Frederick asked, motioning for Zeke to come over to him.

"That's right! But we'd be even more excited if you could use that fancy alchemy of yours to brew us up some beer or ale!" Zeke's voice boomed as he gave a firm, handshake to Alan. Alan let out a small laugh, thankful that everyone seemed so on board to have him join. Well, except for Lana.

"Some ale would be nice. I'm running low myself," Hunter opened up a jug of what appeared to be alcohol before taking several large gulps. Raising it all the way up until empty, he took his lips away from it and let out a very impressive burp. "Hehe, excuse me."

"Are you drunk already?" Daren spoke up, walking over to Alan and Hunter. Hunter chuckled.

"When am I not?" he said, his words starting to have a slight slur to them. Daren furrowed his brow, clearly not amused.

"I thought you were going to take new guy on a trading run today?" he reminded Hunter firmly. Hunter stared blankly for a few seconds before scratching the back of his head. Finally, his eyes shot open.

"Oh shit! New guy! Testificate village! Trades!" his speech was fragmented and mostly just him shouting random words that Alan had no idea how to decipher. Frederick laughed at Alan's clear confusion.

"You have to excuse Hunter. When he's drunk, which is most of the time, he tends to be a little..." Frederick trailed off, not finishing. "Start from the top, Hunter," Frederick smiled. Hunter rubbed his brow, trying to massage out a headache that was already starting to creep up on him.

"That came out jumbled, sorry. Got excited." Hunter looked back up and into Alan's eyes with a smirk on his face. "I got a job for you."

* * *

The sun was just starting to set on the Southern Badlands as Alan and Hunter made their way down the dusty road towards their destination. The sky was a beautiful mixture of purple and orange with puffy, dark blue clouds dotted throughout the stratosphere. Serving as a backdrop to the mud-orange mesas and canyons, it looked like an ideal scene for a painting. Yet Alan couldn't help but sense a certain type of ominous feeling. Perhaps it was nervousness from the possibility of running across any mobs? Maybe he was just feeling skittish by being near Hunter, a man he barely knew. Either way, Alan couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.

"So, the Testificates survived the mob invasion?" Alan asked his traveling companion, trying to distract himself from his own paranoia. Hunter took a swig from his refilled jug of alcohol and nodded.

"Yes siree. The village up here has managed to survive pretty alright from what I can tell. Then again, they're lucky enough to have a golem. Villages that didn't, though... well... just look at what happened to Spawn Pointe." Hunter paused for a second to allow himself another swig of his jug. "Besides," he continued, "the Testificates are piss-poor fighters. Most of them, anyway. Real pacifists, you know what I mean? Still. That worked out pretty good for us because, well, they're pretty much the only group of people that I've met that didn't try to kill me on sight." Hunter laughed.

"Has Hunter's Watch had many problems with other groups before? With griefers?" Alan winced at the word "griefers," memories flashing through his mind.

"Hmm... No, not really." Hunter responded. "Lana, your new best friend, is a redstone engineer. She worked together with George to produce some pretty nasty traps around Hunter's Watch. That coupled with the fact that me, Daren, and Zeke take shifts on gate duty, it's pretty safe to say that Hunter's Watch is pretty damn secured." Hunter looked over at Alan and smiled confidently. "You can sleep easy at night, don't worry."

Alan nodded, slightly relieved. Nowadays, nobody could ever be fully safe from harm, but it seemed to him that Hunter's Watch was about as secure as it got anymore. He still couldn't believe his luck finding it.

"Hey," Hunter spoke up again. "I wanted to thank you for fixing my shoulder up yesterday. It feels like I never even hurt it to begin with." He smiled at Alan, stretching his shoulder to demonstrate the new range of motion that he had compared to yesterday. "I also want to apologize again for Lana. Yesterday was pretty bad in terms of first impressions, but I promise you she's not always like that." He wasn't expecting Alan to overlook getting stabbed in the forearm for practically no reason, but he at least figured that some explanation would help. "We've just all been going through a lot recently," he continued. "Especially Lana. Had you showed up about a month or so earlier, I really think you guys would have gotten along well."

Alan thought for a second, trying to figure out why Lana seemed to hate him so much in the first place, then he remembered something Frederick mentioned earlier that day in the courthouse.

"Hey, Hunter. What did Frederick mean earlier today when he mentioned Rinoa? He called her a murderer, but I thought Rinoa was Lana's sister along with Sofie, right? Did something happen?" In any normal circumstance Alan would almost feel wrong for asking something so bluntly, but given the circumstances he felt like the more he knew, the better.

Hunter stopped walking for a second and stared at the ground. He took yet another chug of alcohol with even bigger gulps this time. He pulled the jug away from his lips and sighed.

"Well, shit... I was hoping you wouldn't catch on to that," he admitted.

"If you don't want to talk about it..."

"No, no," Hunter interrupted. "It's probably best that you hear it from me anyway. Frederick or Zeke might try to bullshit you with it, and trying to get a conversation out of Daren is like trying to break open a chunk of obsidian with your hands." Hunter looked around making sure that there weren't any mobs in the immediate area before continuing. "Where do you want me to begin? The part where Sofie died, or the part where Rinoa killed Frederick's nephew because she thought he killed her?"

"Damn," Alan could already tell that the situation at Hunter's Watch was more complex than he originally thought. "Start from the beginning, I guess."

Hunter nodded.

"Well, let's see... Sofie, Lana, and Rinoa are all sisters. Sofie was the youngest, Rinoa was in the middle, and Lana was the oldest with all of them being born about three years apart, give or take a month or two. They were living in Hunter's Watch happy as a clam. Never had any problems with either of them, personally, but I'm a fairly easy guy to get along with, you know what I mean?' Hunter winked, nudging Alan with his elbow. The smell of alcohol was heavy on his breath, and Alan took a step back, raising an eyebrow.

"Continue..." he requested.

"Right, sorry. Anyway, one day Sofie shows up on the other side of the wall dead. Half-eaten, it was a gory mess. Apparently she had gone out early that morning to collect alchemy ingredients, but got cornered by a mob and killed. Well, needless to say, Lana and Rinoa both took this pretty hard. Rinoa eventually got this notion in her head that Sofie's boyfriend, William, had killed her and dumped her body over the wall."

"And did he?" Alan inquired. Hunter shrugged.

"I mean, I don't think so, but Rinoa was deadset on believing that he did. William was on guard duty that morning, and he's the one that found Sophie's body, so Rinoa was more than a little suspicious. Considering that William was Frederick's nephew, you could see how this could cause some strife in the group. Well, about a week or two ago, we find _William_ on the other side of the wall now. Chewed to death by a pack of zombies. Originally, we had thought that the wall had broken, since a piece of the floorboards had fallen in on itself. The next day, Lana comes up to me and Frederick and tells us that Rinoa had told her that she had killed William. Knocked him off the wall and broke the floor to make it look like an accident. As you can imagine, Frederick was pissed."

Alan remembered reading Sofie's diary last night and considered mentioning it to Hunter, but decided against it. _It's not like it'd do much good anyway,_ he thought.

"So, I guess this Rinoa isn't around anymore then, eh?"

Hunter laughed and kicked some dirt with his boots.

"Well, that depends on what you mean by 'around'." he said. "Frederick, of course, wanted her dead. Daren probably would have done it considering he and William were decent friends, but I was able to convince them to let me handle it."

"So," Alan asked, "what did you do?"

"Took her into the Nether. Traveled down in that god-forsaken place for 3 days before we finally resurfaced. After that, I took her compass, and left her there. Banished, I guess. But, hell, it's a whole lot better than what Frederick was planning on doing with her. They say that a day's journey in the Nether is about eight days' journey in the overworld. So, I left her about a month out from us."

Alan scratched his chin and thought for a minute.

"There's no way she'd be able to track herself back to Hunter's Watch? I mean, she sounds kind of dangerous. You sure she wouldn't try to come back and get revenge?" he asked.

Hunter's eyes darted down for a second as he felt a sick feeling of guilt in his stomach. _Well, other than the fact that the bitch was able to snag my compass somehow?_ he asked himself. It's true. He didn't realize until he made it back to Hunter's Watch, but somehow in their scuffle Rinoa had managed to steal his compass while he was able to keep hers. Of course, he hadn't told anyone this yet. He was considering telling Lana yesterday, but that was before she went crazy and attacked Alan. After that, well, he just didn't seem to think now would be the best time for her.

"Nope," Hunter said, shooting Alan a confident smile. "Rin was always a shit tracker who couldn't tell east from west. We'll be fine. Now, come on, we still have about two or so miles before we make it to the village." And with a friendly pat on the back, Hunter and Alan were once again on their way to the Testificates.

For the most part, the rest of their trip was spent in silence while Alan contemplated this new found information. He couldn't help but think of Sofie's diary, and a chill was sent up his spine. He knew she was dead when he read it last night, but knowing that he had read the diary of a possibly _murdered_ girl just felt very unsettling to him. Then again, this Rinoa girl sounded like a paranoid maniac, so maybe Sofie wasn't murdered after all. The thought that Rinoa, Lana's sister, killed William in a fit of grief-fueled paranoia? Well, the whole thing made Alan really start to understand Lana's behavior the past two days. He started to sympathize with her, even starting to feel bad for his attitude earlier. Then again, it's not like he could have known.

Alan's train of thought was abruptly interrupted by Hunter's hand on his chest, stopping him in his tracks and snapping him back into reality.

"Get down!" Hunter whispered, quiet but firm. Alan immediately crouched down beside Hunter. "Follow me," Hunter commanded as Alan tailed him as they hid behind a bush. Alan's heart started to race as he wondered what it was Hunter saw. By this time, the sun had completely set on Minecraftia, and the darkness had enveloped them.

"What's wrong?" Alan asked, peeping around the bush. Hunter didn't respond immediately, squinting his eyes to look for something.

"Somebody has been here. See that smoke rising above the village?" Hunter pointed and Alan peered into the distance at the small Testificate village on the horizon. Though it was getting dark, Hunter was right. There was multiple pillars of white smoke floating above the little town.

"What should we do?" Alan asked, his heartbeat speeding up. Hunter looked over at him with a stern expression, his once easy-going demeanor gone.

"You know how to fight?" he asked. Alan gulped and clutched the handle of the iron shortsword bound to his hip. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he nodded. Alan had fought several mobs throughout the invasion, but he had only ever fought in situations in which running was impossible.

"Yes," he said, as convincingly as he could.

"Good," Hunter remarked. "If they're zombies, we shouldn't have too much of a problem. If you see any creepers, let me handle them with my bow and arrow, I'll be able to take them on from a distance. Try to stay together. I'll cover your back if you cover mine. Deal?" Hunter asked. Alan nodded again.

"Deal. But... what if it's not the mobs? What if it's griefers?" Alan asked. Hunter looked back over to the village and then back at Alan.

"Run like hell."

* * *

Approaching the village, the smell of smoke filled Alan's nostrils. However, it appeared as if the fires that burned the buildings to the ground had burned out hours ago. Alan had only ever seen one Testificate village before in his life, but most Testificate villages looked the same. A couple of one or two story buildings made out of wood, a small farm, usually a well in the middle of the village for water, occasionally a smithy, and a library. Unfortunately, as he walked through the gravel roads of the village with Hunter, Alan was unable to tell what this village used to be before it was burned. Several wooden buildings, all burned and collapsing on themselves. No signs of life anywhere.

"This was definitely a griefer attack," Hunter said, sighing. He surveyed the area one more time, making absolutely sure that any sign of danger had left. "Looks like whoever did this is gone now. Stay on your guard, though. There could be mobs lurking around. I don't think we'll be able to find anything useful, but look around and see if we can find salvage anything."

Alan let out a small sigh of relief at the thought of not having to deal with any griefers. The moon in the sky was bright enough to provide a little bit of light, but not much. Gripping his sword tightly, Alan rounded a corner only to immediately gasp at what he had come face-to-face with.

"What's wrong?" Hunter asked, following close behind him. He looked up and immediately saw for himself.

The Testificates, or what was left of them. Their charred remains sitting neatly in a pile stacked on top of each other as smoke rose off their burned corpses. Suddenly, the smell of burnt flesh hit Alan's nose and he dropped his sword and keeled over to vomit. Hunter couldn't help but stare at the heap of burned bodies in disbelief. There had to at least be a dozen of them in a pile, stacked like butchered animals. Their skin black and cracked like coal as the embers of their bones still smoldered inside of them.

"Dammit..." he whispered quietly to himself after a minute of silence while Alan wiped the remaining spittle from his own mouth. "Dammit," he said, a little louder this time. "Dammit! Dammit, dammit, _**dammit**_!" he yelled, this time loud enough for anyone nearby to hear.

"Hunter!" Alan whispered as he placed his finger over his mouth signaling for Hunter to be quiet. Hunter didn't seem to pay him any attention, though.

"What happened to their golem?! Who would do this to the Testificates? Why would anyone do this? Why?! Fuck! _**Fuck**_!" Hunter yelled as he paced back and forth in anger, not taking his eyes off of the burnt bodies in front of him.

"Hunter, you need to be quiet!" Alan warned. Hunter jerked his head to look over at him, his eyes burning with anger.

"Or what?!" he demanded. "Or the people who did this will come back?! Well, good! I want them to come back! I want them to come back so I can kill every last one of them!" Hunter could feel the blood rushing through him and his voice start to strain from the yelling. He was hot with anger, and he felt like he was about to burn up. He stared at Alan for what seemed like an eternity before he realized just how scared Alan looked in that moment. Alan was right, he needed to calm down. Finally, he sighed as he felt the burst of anger breath out with his breath. "Shit, Alan, I'm sorry. It's just... I was friends with these guys. I may not have been able to speak their language, but... Dammit. Let's just go," Hunter said, turning around to leave. Alan, happy to finally leave the place, quickly followed after him. As he turned, though, he saw something glowing in the moonlight.

"Wait," Alan asked, grabbing Hunter's arm to stop him.

"What now?" Hunter asked, annoyed. Alan pointed towards the ground, just a few feet from the burned bodies. Curious, but cautious, Hunter walked over to where Alan pointed until he saw it too.

"What is that?" Alan asked as Hunter bent down. "Blood?"

Hunter used his fingers to wipe the stain off of the ground and held it up to his nose to smell. The scent shocked him.

"No. It's ink. Still wet, too..." He stood back up and took a few steps back to get a better view of what they were looking at.

At their feet on the ground in front of them was a large ink drawing of what appeared to be a squid, with his tentacles branching out and curling toward the pile of dead Testificates. The eyes of the squid were large and red as it reflected the fresh ink into the moonlight, and they looked as if they were staring into Alan's very soul. The body of the squid appeared darker than the night sky, and it didn't look so much like a drawing as it did a portal to hell itself. Underneath the squid were three simple words. Alan and Hunter both looked at each other, concern and fear clear on their face, before they silently turned to leave.

On their way back to Hunter's Watch that night, neither one of them said a word. Alan couldn't even keep up with how many times he looked over his shoulder. When Alan and Hunter finally made it back to Hunter's Watch that night, they explained to the others what they had found. Frederick ordered extra guard shifts for the time being, and Zeke happily obliged. Before he went to sleep, those words kept echoing in Alan's mind, unable to go away. They kept murmuring in his head like the soft hiss of a fuse about to set off a crate of TNT. Finally, after an hour of tossing and turning, he opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling as he repeated the words aloud to himself.

 _"CONVERT OR DIE."  
_

* * *

 _ **Next Chapter: A Horse and a Saddle**_

* * *

 _ **A/N: So, it's been awhile, and I hate that. I also hate making excuses, but I'm going to do it anyway. Last semester was really stressful for me, and I didn't really have the opportunity to focus on anything other than school. I wanted to write during Christmas break, but I had way too many things I needed to do (work, family, friends, girlfriend, etc.) But believe me when I say that I've wanted nothing more than to continue writing this story. I got a lot of ideas that I really want to put into it. Good news: This next semester is going to be SO MUCH easier for me than last semester, and I'll overall have a lot more free time. So, don't worry, unless something absolutely shitty happens, I shouldn't take anymore 3 month breaks in between chapters, I promise. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and as always feedback, messages, and reviews are always appreciated. Thank you for your time. (I already proofread, but if you see any typos, grammar problems feel free to message me about it and I'll try and fix it. Thanks!)**  
_


	6. Book 1, Chapter 5: A Horse and a Saddle

_**_**Book 1: The Mob Invasion  
**_ Chapter 5: A Horse and a Saddle**_

 _ **Days Since the Mob Invasion: 747**_

* * *

The sun was high in the sky over the beautiful pine forests of northern Minecraftia. The birds were chirping, the squirrels were in the middle of their daily grind of gathering nuts to last them for the rapidly approaching winter, and the ocelots were slinking and stalking through the bushes in search of any prey. Wildlife was absolutely teeming and thriving as the natural cycle continued just as it had done everyday for the past thousands of years.

And then there were _them..._

A lone zombie shuffled aimlessly throughout the forest, constantly drawn to and from all of the sounds of nature in pursuit of its next meal. Occasionally it would stumble over a root or tree stump and thrash around on the ground for awhile, only to clumsily regain its posture and make its way back to its feet again. Whatever was left of its clothes had long since rotted away, exposing its bare, green flesh to the world. Any distinguishable anatomy that it had in its previous, non-zombie life that differentiated it from a man or woman had long since rotted with the rest of its skin. Its eyes were black and sunken in, the hair that it did have left was covered in green moss and mold, and its teeth were chipped and a horrible shade of brownish black. Its stomach looked like it had been ripped open, perhaps by a bear or some other animal, and the abomination's rib cage was clearly open and exposing several of its bottom ribs. It was truly a evil, disgusting sight that perfectly captured the horrors of the mob invasion.

A twig snapped in the distance, and the zombie turned its head and let out a raspy groan in the direction of the sound.

 _Thwunk!_

A well-placed arrow pierced the rotting flesh and skull of the zombie as it stumbled backwards and fell to the ground, completely motionless. Two figures made their way over to the corpse as one pulled the arrow out of the rotten head.

"Hah! Score another one for me! What's the score now, Rin? I'm pretty sure I'm in the lead," Zoe said enthusiastically as she wiped the black zombie blood from the arrow off on her leather pants leg.

"I thought I told you to be quiet," Rinoa groaned, clearly annoyed. "And, like I said earlier, I'm not keeping score because _I'm not playing,_ " she emphasized. About 2 days ago Zoe had gotten the "fun" idea that they should make a game out of the zombie kills by having 1 point for whoever killed a zombie, 2 points for skeletons, and 5 points for creepers. Rinoa wasn't playing along, but that didn't stop Zoe from trying to run up the score.

"Well fine then," Zoe said, almost pouting. "Just trying to pass the time."

"This isn't a game, Zoe. Do you _want_ to die? Because these things can kill you. There's a reason why the Empire fell, and it's because of these mobs. They aren't to be taken lightly, do you understand? " Rinoa sounded like a mother scolding her child, and even she knew it. She didn't like scolding anyone, but she had never met anyone so ignorant as to just how dangerous the mobs were. Rinoa figured that Zoe's stay behind Monteian's walls with her own personal guards sheltered her from most of the violence that almost everyone up to this point had experienced during the mob invasion. It wasn't her fault, but if Zoe didn't shape up soon, she'd be dead within a couple days' time.

Zoe looked down, clearly hurt by the scolding and Rinoa sighed. She kept forgetting that Rinoa was still a few years younger than her. At 16 years old, she would have only been about 14 when all of this started, clearly still a child. At 19 years old, Rinoa was barely an adult herself, but she was forced to mature faster than most due to the mob invasion.

"Look," Rinoa started, "Just... Just forget it, alright? Take care of the creepers for me with your bow and arrow at least until we get to a village or town or something to drop you off at. Then you can play whack-a-zombie as much as you want. Deal?" She raised her eyebrows, waiting for Zoe's response. The sunlight was shining down on them through the leafy canopy above, providing them with ample light to see their surrounding. Zoe looked back up at her companion.

"Deal..." she said, still sounding rather solemn. Rinoa frowned a little bit at this, then got an idea as she started unbuckling the sword from her leather belt. Zoe looked at her, perplexed. "What are you doing?"

"Here," Rinoa pulled the sword off and held in in front of Zoe. "Take this sword. Now you have something for close quarters if you ever need it, and _I_ don't have to worry about taking care of all of the zombies up close by myself. It's a win-win."

Zoe took the sword and unsheathed it. It was a standard iron sword, but it looked like it had been well polished its whole life. The double edge caught a trickle of sunlight and glared it in Zoe eyes inadvertently for a split second. It was like looking into a mirror almost.

"Do you know how to use it?" Rinoa asked. Zoe was clearly skilled with a bow, but she had never seen her with a sword before. Zoe nodded, still looking at the blade.

"Yeah, but... I mean, don't you need it?"

Rinoa chuckled, slapping the sheathed hatchet hanging from her hip.

"I think I'll be good. Always preferred axes anyway. Could never get the edge alignment right for swordplay."

Zoe took one last look at the sword before sliding it back in its sheath. She smiled, looking up at Rinoa. "Thanks, Rin! It means a lot." The gratitude was very genuine, and so was the smile. It caught Rinoa off guard.

"It- it's... Don't worry about it," Rinoa muttered before taking a few steps forward in the direction they were previously going. Zoe followed beside her, eager to get out of the chilly shade of the canopy.

"It's a good sword. Did you make it?" she asked. Rinoa shook her head.

"No. It was one of my friend's. He's... letting me borrow it until I meet up with him again." Rinoa said, memories of Hunter and Hunter's Watch flashing in her mind.

"Sounds like a good friend!" Zoe said, blissfully unaware.

"Yep. He was so insistent that I take it, he practically threw it at me." Rinoa reached up and grabbed the area of her ribs that the sword made contact with when Hunter threw it at her in their previous fight when Hunter abandoned her, right before she met Zoe. The wound had long since healed due to the potion of regeneration, but Rinoa could still remember the pain of her ribs cracking from the impact, the only thing preventing her from getting stabbed from the sword being her leather armour.

 _Don't worry though, Hunter,_ Rinoa thought to herself. _You'll be seeing your sword real up close and personal again one day. I promise._ Her brow furrowed in anger as she thought of her betrayal by Hunter's Watch, as well as Sofie's death.

Zoe saw Rinoa's demeanor change and decided it was probably best to not say anything, at least for awhile, lest she upset her friend anymore. She was beginning to suspect that there might be more to her new friend than Rinoa was letting on. Judging by Rinoa's expression, though, it was probably not best to ask about it right now.

They walked on in silence.

* * *

After a few more miles of walking through the forest with minor interruptions from mobs, they had finally made their way to a wide open clearing. It was a field, miles long, of pure countryside. The sun was lower in the sky than it had been previously, and Rinoa figured that they only had a few hours of daylight left.

"Should we camp here for the night?" Zoe asked. Rinoa looked over at her incredulously.

"In the middle of the field? We'd be sitting ducks."

"No, I mean, at the edge of the forest. We put up camp now, build a fire, rest for the night, then we can cross the field tomorrow," Zoe suggested. She didn't know much about camping, having spent her entire life in her father's mansion at Monteian, but she thought it was a good idea at least.

Rinoa looked back at the field. It was a very long stretch of land. Camping in the middle of it wouldn't be an option, they'd be an easy target for both mobs and griefers. Waiting until tomorrow to try and cross the field would be the better option, but...

 _Hunter's Watch... I need to get to Hunter's Watch..._

"No," Rinoa said shaking her head at the idea. "We cross the field now, we rest when we reach the other side."

Zoe's shoulder's slumped and she groaned.

"Rin! I'm exhausted!" Zoe whined. Her leather armour was flexible, but the iron reinforcements that she had on it made it much heavier than the traditional, light leather armour that Rinoa had on.

"You can rest when we find someplace safe," Rinoa said, uncaring about her partner's exhaustion. "And I can rest when I make it back to Hunter's Watch." She stepped forward and began the long walk across the field. Zoe hesitated for a bit, looking back at the forest, then finally sighed before running to catch up with Rinoa. When she finally caught up, she was already out of breath. Having walked all day, her feet were killing her, and she wondered if Rinoa planned on doing this much walking every day. She figured talking might pass the time.

"You never told me about Hunter's Watch. I know you're going there, but not much else." Zoe inquired, hoping to extract more information from her rather mysterious partner. Rinoa shrugged, not bothering to take her eyes off the horizon. "I, uh, hope you don't mind me asking. It's just that, you know, we've been traveling for 3 days now and... well, I barely know you." Zoe laughed nervously. Rinoa nodded, understanding where Zoe was coming from.

"Not much to say about Hunter's Watch. I got friends there. I'm just looking to get back to them. It's across the Iron Mountains."

Zoe whistled clearly amazed.

"Past the Iron Mountains?!" she echoed. "That's all the way in the South! What are you doing this far in the North? We were nearly at the Red Mountains when I found you."

"We went on a supply run. Used a few nether portals to travel faster. We were looking for medicine, but we got separated when one of the portals broke. I waited for a couple days, but they never came back to get me. Trying to make my way back there now is all." Rinoa was lying through her teeth and she knew it, but she felt no need to tell Zoe, someone that she barely knew, the full story of what actually happened between her, Hunter, William, Lana, and Sofie. The less Zoe knew, the better.

"Is that where the compass leads to?" Sofie pointed to the redstone compass that almost always seemed to be in Rinoa's hands. "I've watched you clutch onto that thing for dear life for the past few days now. I kind of figured Hunter's Watch is at the end of that red needle there."

"Exactly. If my estimating is correct, I'm still about 2 or so weeks away."

Zoe nodded, respectfully paying attention to her friend's story. And yet she couldn't help but get the feeling that Rinoa wasn't telling her the whole truth. Still, she couldn't prove that she was lying, so she decided to just leave it at that.

"What about Monteian? Tell me more about that," Rinoa asked, finally taking her eyes off the horizon and looking at Zoe. "I was surprised to find out that they had managed to survive for so long when you first told me."

Zoe looked away for a second. It wasn't a story she was necessarily proud of, but she felt like she at least owed Rinoa some explanation in return for her explanation of Hunter's Watch.

"Monteian, the 'Iron Capitol of Minecraftia'." Zoe repeated the title of the city in an exaggerated fashion. "My dad owned the mines and, in return, I guess you could say that he owned the city. I mean, that's why they called me the 'Iron Princess', after all," Zoe said, putting her hands on her hips in a victory pose.

"Are you sure you're not the only one who called yourself that?" Rinoa asked, slightly amused.

"There were others too!" Zoe exclaimed, visibly flustered. Rinoa shook her head but decided it wasn't worth pursuing. "Anyway," Zoe continued. "After the mob invasion, we had the manpower, the miners, and the iron. We built a wall, hunkered down in it, and for 2 years we were relatively safe. Until, well... until about 2 weeks ago..." Zoe stopped, taking a moment to compose herself. She felt the familiar feeling of grief creeping up in her stomach.

"Griefers?" Rinoa asked. She figured that griefers would be just about the only thing able to get through a well-maintained wall like that. Surprisingly, Zoe shook her head.

"There was... a creeper. But it wasn't like any creeper I had ever seen. It... well, it was practically _glowing._ We had never seen anything like it. By the time it got to the walls, something triggered it and it exploded. The explosion was huge, way more than a typical creeper explosion... and it took out an entire chunk of our wall. It was almost like the rest of the mobs were waiting for it, because they all started pouring in. And they... They just... They..." Zoe felt the tears involuntarily start to well up in her eyes as she tried to finish her sentence.

Rinoa noticed Zoe stammering and stopped her by placing a hand on her shoulder. It seemed to snap Zoe out of it as she looked up at Rinoa.

"It's okay. I understand. You don't need to finish." Rinoa said. Zoe let out a deep breath and nodded, feeling her heart rate return to normal.

"After that," she continued. "I grabbed what I could and ran. Cue one week of me roughing it out on my own later, and then I meet you and, well, here we are." Zoe let out a small smile. "But, what about you? Where did you live at before all of this? You're clearly Northern," Zoe pointed out, taking note of Rinoa's pale complexion.

"The Capitol," Rinoa simply responded.

"Ahhh... I should have guessed with that hair!" Zoe giggled, pointing at Rinoa's pink dyed hair. "Hair dyes were pretty popular in the Capitol, weren't they? But I've never seen anyone pull off pink before. I think it suits you!"

"Thanks..." Rinoa had been dying her hair since she was a child to the point where she was starting to forget that pink wasn't even her natural hair colour. She instinctively brushed a strand of hair back behind her ear.

"But, wait," Zoe spoke up, remembering something. "If you were at the Capitol before the mob invasion, then that means you were there when-"

"Yes." Rinoa interrupted, slightly annoyed. She was starting to wish Zoe would stop talking now.

"The Capitol... The Scorched City..." Zoe whispered, sighing. Her eyes were sympathetic, and she could only imagine what Rinoa had to go through that first night of the mob invasion. She had heard stories from some of the supply runners in Monteian as well as other Capitol survivors that told about how the entire Capitol went up in flames during the first night of the mob invasion. Those who weren't killed by the mobs were either burned alive by the fire or trampled to death trying to escape. Out of the thousands of people who lived in the Capitol, it was estimated that less than 200 were able to escape and survive that first night. The handful of survivors who were able to make it to Monteian referred to it as "the Scorched City" ever since.

Rinoa didn't say anything and just kept walking. She was done talking. She never talked about what happened at the Capitol to anyone, not even to Sofie or Lana. Rinoa tried her best to forget about that night, even though she could still hear the screams in her nightmares. As far as she was concerned, that was the only place where thinking about the Capitol belonged: her dreams.

 _ **"Neeeeeeigh!"**_

They both jumped as they quickly turned around to see where the noise came from. Axe in hand, Rinoa was prepared for a fight. What she wasn't prepared for, though, was a lone horse to come trotting up to both her and Zoe. It was a slender, white horse with a black mane. Rinoa noticed that it also had a saddle strapped to its back, clearly indicating that this was – or at least used to be – somebody's horse. It stopped about a dozen yards away from them and looked at the two humans curiously, before stooping down to graze on some of the knee-high grass from the field.

Zoe looked over at Rinoa excitedly, nearly squealing. She had always loved horses ever since she was a young child, and she couldn't help but get excited over seeing one. She noticed that Rinoa, too, had a feint smile on her lips.

"Rinoa, what should we do?" she asked, whispering to avoid scaring the horse. Rinoa thought for a minute over their options.

"Alright, stay here," Rinoa responded. "I'm going to try and see if I can't coax him into letting us ride him."

"But it has a saddle," Zoe interjected. "You don't think that his owner is still around, do you?"

"If he is, he's probably dead, green, and eats people now," Rinoa stated, matter-of-factly. "Now be quiet and let me see what I can do."

Zoe nodded and Rinoa made her way to the horse, ever so slowly. Each step was deliberate, as she wanted the horse to know that she was there, but also not be loud enough where she would spook the horse. She held her breath, praying that the horse wouldn't up and run away whenever she got close to him.

 _If we could coax this horse into letting us ride it,_ Rinoa thought, _then the time it'd take me to reach Hunter's Watch would be cut in half..._

The idea alone was all the motivation Rinoa needed. Finally, she was within petting distance of the horse. Its head still lowered to the ground chomping on some grass, the horse's ears perked up curiously at the new visitor.

"Don't worry, buddy," Rinoa cooed. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Slowly - painstakingly slowly – Rinoa reached out and felt her fingertips make contact with the horse's shoulder as she gentled petted him. The horse's skin flinched involuntarily, but the horse made no effort to move from it's spot. After a few seconds of light brushing, Rinoa started using her whole hand to pet the beast, moving up to its neck. The horse let out a gentle whinny and raised his head from the grass to look at Rinoa. Their eyes met, and Rinoa was able to tell that this was a relatively younger horse, but still old enough to be considered an adult. The horse neighed as he pushed his neck into Rinoa's hand, apparently enjoying the stroking. Rinoa laughed.

"You must like it when you get your mane stroked, huh boy?" She ran her fingers through the wiry threads of the horses mane, enjoying their touch. She turned around to look over at Zoe and motioned for her to come over, much to her excitement. Walking as fast as she could without scaring the horse, Zoe walked over to where Rinoa was petting him.

"Wow!" she exclaimed, beaming with joy. The horse seemed to be slightly cautious of this newcomer, as he took a step back away from her. Zoe's face dropped. "I guess he must not like me," she sighed, clearly hurt. Rinoa shook her head.

"Here," Rinoa said, taking Zoe's hand in her left hand while still petting the horse with her right. Zoe was a little surprised by this, but didn't say anything. "Just gently pet the hose on the shoulder, like this," she said, demonstrating. She raised Zoe's hand with her hand and placed it on the horse's shoulder for her to stroke. "This is the spot they feel less threatened by you touching," she explained. Zoe's eyes widened, seemingly unwilling to believe that she was actually petting a real, live horse.

"My dad... he would never let me get near the horses in Monteian. Said they were too dangerous because his cousin was killed in a horse accident when they were kids. I was never allowed to go near the horses in the stables, much less pet one, no matter how much I begged." She took off her glove so she could pet the horse with her bare hand. The fur was soft, yet strong and coarse at the same time. It was much different than a dog's fur, that much was certain. She looked over at Rinoa who was staring at her, smiling.

"You remind me of myself when I pet my first horse," she chuckled.

"Really?" Rinoa asked, slightly blushing. Rinoa nodded.

"My father taught me. My grandfather was a stable boy for Emperor Notch's army during the Baron Wars. He taught my father how to ride horses when he was a kid, and Dad taught me how to ride when I was a kid."

"Are we going to ride him!?" Zoe was bewildered by the mere thought of touching a horse. She didn't know if she was ready to ride one. Rinoa scratched the back of her head.

"Well, that's up to him to decide," Rinoa pointed to the horse, who had gone back to eating grass as Zoe stroked his shoulder. "Judging by the saddle, he's at least been trained before, so that's good. Only question is, will he let us ride him?"

"How can we find out?" Zoe curiously asked.

"Only one way to find out," Rinoa stated, smirking. "Keep petting his shoulder, I'm going to try and mount him. Okay?"

Zoe didn't seem prepared for this, but she nodded anyway, clearly nervous. Rinoa put her foot in one of the stirrups and, in one heave, hoisted herself onto the saddle on the horse's back. The horse, surprised, let out a loud neigh and bucked as he tried to kick Rinoa off.

"Woah there, boy! Easy!" Rinoa shouted with authority. The horse stopped bucking, and shook a little bit. When Rinoa still failed to get off the saddle, the horse resigned in the fight, and Rinoa was left sitting on top of the saddle, both feet in the stirrups, victorious. "And that," Rinoa said, slightly panting from the excitement, "...is how you mount a horse."

Zoe's eyes were wide in admiration. Sitting on the horse with her leather armour and white robes, Rinoa reminded her of the war maidens that used to quarter in Monteian on their way to the Edgelands during the Edgelands' Rebellion when she was a kid. Looking at her now, she could tell that there was something about Rinoa that pushed her forward. A motivation. A drive that she had only seen in seasoned soldiers. Zoe wasn't quite sure what it was, but she could tell that whatever it was, it burned inside of Rinoa like a wildfire, fueling her to keep going, no matter what.

 _Rinoa might be a little rough around the edges,_ she thought, _but she's still pretty cool._ She smiled and extended her hand out towards the mounted warrior.

"Me next!"

* * *

The sun had set and and the sky was slowly starting to darken as Rinoa and Zoe made their way into a swampy forest at the end of the prairie that they had just crossed. With the horse, they had drastically cut down on their time to cross, and now all they had to do was find a place to set up camp. Zoe was having the time of her life; how could she have known riding on a horse would be so much fun? Rinoa, however, felt like every rib in her body was bruised from how tight Zoe was holding on to her.

"Grip with your legs, not your arms," Rinoa repeated for the dozenth time as she squirmed uncomfortably under Zoe's iron grip.

"Sorry!" Zoe apologized from behind her as she eased up. "I'm just afraid of falling, you know?"

"It's not like the fall would kill you..." Rinoa muttered more to herself than to Zoe. She could hear the sloshing of puddles underneath the horses hooves and the rotten smell of swamp in the air. She groaned. "I hate swamps... Too many bugs..."

"But it should be good for shelter at least, right?" Zoe replied optimistically. Rinoa was starting to pick up on the fact that Zoe was a "cup half-full" type of girl.

"That depends. Look for a clear area that's at least semi-dry. I don't want to be sleeping with the frogs tonight."

Zoe looked around trying to find something of use. _Trees... Trees... Pond... More trees... Cute frogs!... Trees..._ Finally, something caught her eyes.

"Wait a second," she said, poking Rinoa in the shoulder. "Look!" she pointed in the distance.

It was hard to make out due to the lack of light, but there was a clear outline of some sort of structure just several yards away from them.

"Well, well, well, what's this?" Rinoa asked as she steered the horse to go towards the building. Getting up close to it, they could see that it was a small, one story, wooden shack that was built at the base of a large tree. It had a small, 3-step staircase leading up to the door, but little else in terms of a porch or patio. Judging by the state of disrepair that it seemed to be in, it looked like it had been long since abandoned by humans, maybe even before the mob invasion. Rinoa and Zoe both dismounted the horse and walked up to the door.

"This would be perfect," Zoe pointed out. By this point night had fully fallen and the stars were out in the night sky. This was their best bet for shelter for the night.

"True... if it's empty." Rinoa pulled out her axe and banged on the door, waiting for any indication of movement from the inside, whether human or zombie. She waited for a full minute with her ear up to the door. Nothing, not even a peep. She looked over her shoulder at Zoe who had just finished tying the horse to a tree and nodded. "Coast is clear."

"Well.. you first." Zoe had a tint of fear in her voice. The shed _was_ pretty spooky looking, and she hated being in forests at night. Rinoa just shook her head dismissively and pushed open the door that let out a sinister _creeeeaaak_.

Pitch black. The shack seemed to lack any windows whatsoever. Taking a step into the darkness, the floorboards creaked underneath her weight. Zoe followed closely behind her, not daring to stay too far away from her axed companion. When they were fully through the door, Rinoa turned to Zoe.

"Hey, can you hand me a redstone torch?"

"Sure, one sec," Zoe replied as she reached into her satchel.

 _ **BANG!**_

The door behind them immediately slammed shut, causing both of them to jump in shock and Zoe to latch on to Rinoa's arm in a panic.

"What the hell?! Who's there, show yourself!" Rinoa shouted, gripping her axe, ready to start swinging. Suddenly, the room was filled with a lazy haze of blue light. Rinoa and Zoe both squinted as their eyes tried to adjust from the darkness. When they finally opened their eyes, however, they saw the source of the light. Multiple torches on all 4 walls of the shack, each burning a bright, blue flame. In the middle of the room, there was a table... and at the end of the table, an old, fragile looking woman.

"Well hello there!" the raspy voice said, pleasantly. "You have to pardon the introduction, sweetie. It's been so long since I've had any visitors." The woman then let out a shrill cackle that pierced Rinoa and Zoe's ears. The lady was wearing a long, black robe with the hood over her head covering her eyes. Underneath the hood, some fine, white hairs were poking out; the woman could very easily be at least 80 years old. Perhaps the most distinguishable feature, however, was her long, crooked nose, and when she smiled, she had very little teeth.

"What the hell is this? Who are you?" Rinoa demanded. This caused the lady to cackle again, even louder this time.

"Please, please," she said, wiping a tear from her face from her laughter. "We can go over all of that in due time, my dear. Take a seat," she motioned to the empty chair at the end of the table across from her.

"Rin..." Zoe whispered, still clutching Rinoa's arm. Rinoa looked down at her, and she could see the fear on her friend's face illuminated from the blue flames of the torches. It was clear that this was the last place she wanted to be right now. "I've heard stories about women who live alone in shacks in the middle of the woods like this, they're-"

"Witches?" the woman completed Zoe's sentence before descending into another cackling fit. "Well... she's not wrong," she said, smiling. "Still, even old witches like myself deserve a little company every now and again, don't they? Please, take a seat." Once again, the witch motioned towards the chair.

Zoe's grip on Rinoa's arm tightened.

"Let's get out of here," she whispered. "Please," Zoe pleaded. Rinoa looked back to the woman sitting at the table and shook her head.

"That's gonna be a no, you old bat. Zoe, go ready the horse. We're leaving," and they both turned their backs to head out the door, much to Zoe's relief.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk... That's a pity," the witch said, shaking her head in disapproval. "I guess you'll never get to hear the truth about your sweet, innocent, sister Sofie then..." she said, waving her hand dismissively.

Rinoa stopped dead in her tracks. Zoe looked back behind her.

"Rin?" she had her hand on the door handle but stopped. Rinoa turned around back towards the woman, her eyes wide open in shock.

"W-what... did you just say?" she stammered, totally bewildered. "Did you say... Sofie?"

The witch smiled, clearly her words having the effect she intended them to. She looked up from under her hood, and it was only then that Zoe saw that the woman's eyes were a deep shade of purple. They looked... unnaturally evil. For a third time, the woman motioned towards the empty seat across from her at the end of the table.

"Please, Ms. Rinoa Carr... Have a seat," she smirked, showing the few teeth she had left. "I've been waiting for you."

* * *

 _ **Next Chapter: Errands**_

* * *

 _ **A/N: So, this chapter actually took a long time to write after I started on it because it seemed like every time I turned around, work was blowing me out the ass. Anyway, from here on out the story is going to really pick up the pace. I acknowledge that it's been sort of a slow beginning, but as of this chapter there's going to be no brakes on this train. I've also decided that I'm going to start cutting back on the length of the chapters just a little bit. I feel like that'll make the chapter updates quicker, and we won't have such long periods of time in between chapters. So, as always, thoughts, criticisms, and reviews are always appreciated. I plan on updates very soon, so make sure that you don't miss it. Thanks a lot for your time, I'm really looking forward to sharing more of this story with you.**_

 _ **(Also: if you see any typos or grammar problems, lemme know either in a PM or review. I also changed the cover image to something a bit more personalized. I like it. kthnxbai)**_


	7. Book 1, Chapter 6: Errands

_**_**Book 1: The Mob Invasion  
**_ Chapter 6: Errands**_

 _ **Days Since the Mob Invasion: 747**_

* * *

Calamari Lake, the second largest lake in Minecraftia and the largest lake in Southern Minecraftia, is one of the only places in the Empire where one could naturally fish for squids. Because of this, the lake was heavily fished by many fishermen wishing to make a profit off of the ever valuable squid ink. After years of constant fishing with no reprieve, the squid population dwindled to almost nothing in the lake, and fishermen were forced to take their business elsewhere. Left behind in their wake were small fishing villages, abandoned by the fishermen and left to be reclaimed by nature. Hunter's Watch was one of those towns.

Sitting atop one of the towers along the wall around the town, Daren stared into the treeline as an ever watchful sentry. Ever since Hunter and the new guy, Alan, returned the other day with news of a griefer attack at the Testificate village, Daren had volunteered for longer shifts as the gatekeeper. He looked up and noticed that the sun was just starting to poke out over the horizon. Shuddering in the late-autumn morning breeze, he pulled his fur blanket close to him. He had watched the sun go down and the sun come back up. He was tired, and his eyes felt like they were burning, but still he stayed watching.

Daren sighed and remembered all the military training and drills that he had gone through when he first joined Notch's imperial spear legion about 6 years earlier. He knew those long nights of training would prepare him for his life as a spearman, but he had no idea it would be like this. He felt his eyelids start to get heavy, and for a split second they closed just a little longer than they should have.

 _"Impaler..."_ the memories of a word he had heard too often in his life rang in his head as he felt his head involuntarily nod to sleep for a split second.

He jumped, slightly startled by himself, before groaning and rubbing his tired eyes. "Damn sleep deprivation... starting to hallucinate..." he cursed to himself for drifting off, even if it was for just a second. Just then he heard loud, bulky footsteps making their way up the stairs. He didn't need to look to see who it was.

"Good morning, Daren!" Zeke's voice boomed in the quiet of morning, causing a nearby group of birds to fly away frightened. Zeke's balding, dark-skinned scalp was reflecting the morning sun almost like a mirror. Like most days, he was wearing a thin, sleeveless shirt and some drab looking pants that barely came down to his calves. No shoes, per usual. No armour, per usual. Just one giant, bulky sword dangling from his hip, per usual. Daren looked over to Zeke and took note of him before turning back towards the treeline,

"Shouldn't you be wearing shoes or something? I thought you Southerners hated the cold," Daren quipped. Zeke held his belly and bellowed with laughter, which scared even more birds in the treeline, before pointing at Daren's blanket.

"And I thought that the strong, hardy Northerners didn't need wimpy luxuries such as blankets!"

"Touché." Daren smirked. He had walked right into that one. "You here to relieve my shift?"

"That's right! Now, get out of here and go get some rest, little Northern man," Zeke poked fun at Daren. "You look like you're about to keel over! Hahaha!"

Normally Zeke's loud behavior would annoy him, but Daren was too tired to feel anything more than relief as Zeke took his spot as the watch for the day. Walking down the stairs, he made his way down the dirt road in the middle of town to get to his house. On both sides of the road there were small, wooden buildings. Some were houses, others were storerooms or the community center, which he saw Lana walking to while carrying a basket fulls of vegetables from the greenhouse. She saw him and smiled.

"Daren, good morning! Are you gonna stay up for breakfast? I was gonna try and make some sort of vegetable medley today." Lana and Hunter were the designated cooks of the town. Lana knew how to cook things and make them last, and Hunter could clean, strip, gut, and butcher just about anything that moved. In terms of post-apocalyptic eating, it really wasn't all that bad.

Daren stabbed his spear into the ground and slightly leaned on it. "No, not this morning. I'm going to go to sleep soon as I get home." He was hungry, but he was even more tired. Lana frowned, but she understood.

"Well, how about I save you a bowl and bring it to you later?" she asked. Daren nodded at this, trying his hardest to keep his eyes open. Lana could tell he was about to pass out. "Alright, well, you get some rest now, okay? I'll see you later." And with that, she was off to the community center to start cooking, and Daren was off back to his house.

As he walked past Hunter's home, he heard two people having a conversation. Looking through the window as he passed, he could see Alan and Hunter sitting at Hunter's dining room table having a discussion.

 _It's nice that he's getting along well with Hunter,_ Daren thought to himself. Alan's introduction into Hunter's Watch had been a little more aggressive than they wanted, mostly due to Lana's uncharacteristic decision to stab him, but Daren was still glad he decided to stick around. The kid's potions were good. Just as good as Sofie's was, if not better. Suddenly, he frowned.

"Sofie..." he whispered to himself. He shook his head before he could think about that topic anymore than need be. Better to just forget it and move on. What's done is done.

Walking through the front door of his house, he quickly stripped the chainmail armour off himself before walking over to his bed in the corner. He rested the spear along the wall right next to the head of his bed and, without even taking the proper time to pull the sheets back, he plopped on the mattress face-first. He needed all the rest he could get before he had to do it all over again that night.

He was fast asleep within minutes.

* * *

In the northern side of town, near the gate, there sat a small house almost separated from the others. Much like all the other houses, it was a simple, one-story, wooden house with a few windows in the front of the house. Inside, a man could be seen as his desk writing very frantically. He was a middle-aged man with dark, unkempt hair. Sitting on his nose was a pair of thick reading glasses, and behind them were a pair of small, green eyes. His shirt was a button-up long sleeved white shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Everything about the man seemed jittery, and it was apparent by the stacks of books and papers strewn across his desk that the man was a scholar of some sorts, or at least he was before the mob invasion.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, causing the man to jump briefly.

"Come in! Come in please!" he called out. The door was unlocked, and shortly thereafter Alan walked in with a small crate full of potions.

"Uh, yes, you're George, right?" Alan asked, eyeing the man on the other side of the room. The man quickly walked over to Alan, practically jogging, to greet him.

"Yes, yes, yes I am. Thank you very much, pleasure to finally meet you, very sorry, very sorry for not doing it sooner by the way do you have it? I've been trying to be patient but I really need it please, thank you."

"Uh, what?" Alan asked, mentally lagging behind the man. The man was speaking faster than Alan could even keep up. George glared, seemingly offended by the man's ignorance.

"The potions. The potions. Do you have the potions? I need the potions. Can I please have the potions? I gotta have the potions." George talked rather disjointedly, like he was constantly trying to speak two sentences at the same time. It was exhausting just to listen to.

"Oh, the potions!" Alan exclaimed, finally caught up with George's train of thought. "Yeah, Hunter was telling me you needed a crate full of potions of speed, but he wouldn't tell me why..." Alan handed the crate to George. George took the crate and nodded in appreciation before quickly walking over to his desk and dropping the crate in the middle of it. The glass bottles rattled against each other as the glass rubbed against glass. Quickly lifting a potion up, George popped the cap off of it, and chugged.

"What?" Alan asked, bewildered. "Hey, listen, if you're some sort of druggie-"

George held up his hand to stop Alan. He was looking down at the ground with his eyes closed, as if he was concentrating very hard on something. Eventually, he looked back up and smiled at Alan.

"Sorry about that, Alan," he said, a lot calmer and slower this time. In fact, Alan could see that George's entire demeanor had changed. His muscles were relaxed, and he seemed a lot less tense, which is the exact _opposite_ of what is supposed to happen when you drink a potion of speed. Alan raised an eyebrow.

"What the hell was that? You just drank a potion of speed, are you okay?" Alan asked, walking over to George. George smiled and nodded.

"Well, it depends on what you mean by 'okay,'" he said, rather mellow. Alan scoffed.

"So you're a druggie, then? So what was that, your withdrawals?" After the Baron Wars, Notch strictly regulated all production of potions of speed by the alchemists due to their addictive nature and intoxicating side-effects. Alan was beginning to suspect that George had become addicted.

"No, no, no, not at all," George laughed, waving his hand dismissively. "You see, about 15 years ago I was working in Ravenscroft with some redstone from the Red Mountains. The sample we were studying was some of the purest redstone that had ever been mined. We were testing to see what gave redstone it's reactionary properties and how we could best use it when all of a sudden...well..." George didn't finish, but lifted up his right arm and showed off a rather large scar on his forearm to Alan. It was a wide, thick, nasty looking scar that seemed like it had cut all the way to the bone. Alan gasped, finally understanding now as the connection formed in his mind.

"Redstone poisoning," he whispered. George nodded solemnly.

"Our pulley system broke and crushed my arm under a redstone ore. Some of it broke off and got into my bloodstream. When it got to the brain, I was out like a light. For 2 days I was in that coma. When I finally woke up, it had damaged my brain pretty badly. They say it was a miracle I even woke up at all. Ever since then, though, I've been like what you saw earlier. Tense, always on edge, unable to sleep, the list goes on and on."

"But potions of speed temporarily counteract the damage done to the brain by redstone poisoning, I learned that at the University." Alan said, finally understanding George's situation and the reason for his behavior the past few days. George smiled, brushing his hair out of his face.

"After Sofie died, my speed stash dwindled pretty quickly. Since then I've sort of had to... well, make due. Nobody here knows how to make even the simplest speed potion... but then you came along. I'm just glad you were able to complete an order of this size in such a small amount of time." The crate of speed potions had about 26 potions in there. George took the empty potion flask that he had just finished and handed it back to Alan. "For recycling," he said, giving a small smile and a wink.

Alan was shocked at just how different George seemed now. He had seen him several times throughout the past 4 days that he had been there, and he always seemed like he had someplace that he needed to urgently be. Whenever he would eat in the community center, he'd always eat his meal as fast as possible before returning back to his home to do who knows what without so much as saying a word. Alan just assumed the man was jittery from the mob invasion, he never would have suspected redstone poisoning.

"Well, well, well, you seem to be doing better," a voice from the door rang out. Alan turned around to see Hunter leaned up against doorway with a bottle of rum in his hand. A startled laugh came out from George.

"Well thank you, Hunter. I _feel_ better!" he exclaimed, rubbing the back of his head. Alan walked over to Hunter, clearly displeased.

"Why didn't you tell me he had redstone poisoning?" Alan hissed, staring daggers into Hunter. "I accused him of being a _fucking_ druggie." Hunter could tell Alan was clearly embarrassed by his misdiagnosis as he shrugged.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be able to identify that stuff? I mean, you _are_ the designated healer after all," Hunter teased, taking a swig of rum. His breath already reeked of alcohol. Alan wasn't even sure if it was noon yet.

"You're not drinking already, are you Hunter?" George asked, shaking his head but smiling. He didn't know why he even asked since it seemed like Hunter made it his personal goal in life to get absolutely hammered before lunch time. "You haven't changed a bit since we first met, Hunter."

Hunter just laughed at this before taking a seat in one of George's chairs. George's single-room house was very cramped, which was made even worse by how messy he kept it. Papers and books were strewn about everywhere, including the floor. It was all Hunter could do to avoid tripping over something as he made his way to the chair.

"That reminds me," Alan started. "How _did_ you guys meet? I mean, I assume Hunter's Watch is named after you, right Hunter?" Alan walked over and sat next to Hunter as George leaned his back against his desk and crossed his arms. Hunter grinned, before taking yet another sip of his rum. Alan had never seen someone drink so much alcohol, but Hunter was drinking it almost as if it were water.

"Alright," Hunter spoke, his voice slightly straining from the strength of the rum. He put the cork back into the bottle and laid it on the table. He explained to Alan how he had came to Lake Calamari about 2 months after the mob invasion in search of freshwater. That's when he found what was now known as Hunter's Watch. A few days later, George joined up, and offered to build a wall around the town in exchange for living there, which Hunter complied.

"We've been friends ever since," George chuckled after Hunter finished.

"For the most part," Hunter smirked, raising the bottle of rum to George in the gesture of a toast before swallowing another mouthful. "I also thought he was a druggie when I first met him, Alan, don't worry!" he laughed. Alan, however, was still confused.

"Okay wait," Alan stopped them. "If you two founded Hunter's Watch, and if it's named after you, then why is Frederick the one in charge?" Alan thought it was a pretty good question, seeing as Frederick seemed to be the one that called the shots around here. Hunter's expression seemed to drop.

"Frederick..." he groaned, rubbing his brow. "That son of an ass."

"You mean like a donkey?" Alan snickered. Hunter shook his head.

"No, I mean like an ass."

"Oh c'mon now, Hunter," George interjected. "He's not that bad."

"No, he's not... he's even worse." Hunter retorted. Alan looked at him clearly confused.

"So... what did he do?" Alan asked again. By this point, Hunter had finished off the bottle and tossed it aside on the floor, much to George's annoyance. Hunter just considered it an addition to George's collection.

"Okay... so, after me and George built the wall, Daren shows up. Now, Daren used to be in Notch's spear legion, so we'd be crazy not to let him in, right? That, and he's The Impaler from the Edgeland's Rebellion, so he's a fuckin' war hero," Hunter stated.

"Wait, 'the Impaler'?" Alan repeated, now even more confused than he was previously. "What's that?" he asked. He couldn't help but have a trace amount of fear in his voice. Daren was intimidating enough as is, but with a nickname like 'the Impaler,' it surrounded him an even more frightening aura.

"You... should probably just ask him yourself." Hunter just looked at Alan as if he were stupid for even asking such a question. "You must have not kept up with the war in the Edgelands that much..." Hunter stated, slightly in disbelief that Alan didn't know the story of the Impaler of the Edgelands. But that was a story for another day. "Anyway," he continued. "A few weeks after Daren shows up, Frederick and Zeke show up as well. Frederick, if you don't already know, used to be a a statesman for Old King's Grove up north near the Red Mountains, and Zeke was his personal bodyguard. Apparently, they used to live in the Capital before that."

"Really?" Alan asked, astonished. "That's incredible."

Hunter rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, it was so 'incredible', that my dumb ass thought it would be a good idea to have him lead the town rather than me, seeing as he had some experience with that sort of thing before," Hunter looked down, mentally cursing himself for his decision.

"It was a good decision!" George remarked optimistically. Hunter looked over at his friend and scowled.

"Yeah, and not a day goes by where I don't regret it," Hunter said in a deadpan tone. "He's way to stuffy and uptight. The guy has a huge stick up his ass."

They all laughed at this, including Alan. He liked Frederick, he was kind enough, but he did notice that Frederick seemed to be a stickler for order. The man still dressed and groomed himself as if he were still living a comfy life as a lawmaker. They all sat around the room, telling stories and jokes for a few hours. Between the bursts of laughter, Alan smiled to himself. He felt like, for the first time in a long time, he had finally found someplace where he belonged. Before he left that night, George handed him a letter that he had written containing a list of how many speed potions he needed in a typical month's time to combat his redstone poisoning. It averaged out to about 2 a day: one at night and one in the morning. It was an order that Alan was more than capable of filling. After a little more talking, and more than a few dirty jokes by drunken Hunter, Alan and Hunter left George's home to go back to each of their own houses for the night.

* * *

As night fell, the half-moon shone over Lake Calamari casting a beautiful reflection on the surface of the water. Frogs could be hear croaking in the distance, and a symphony of crickets were chirping their nightly orchestra. Every now and then, you could here a _plop!_ in the water from a fish jumping into the air to catch a dragonfly for a late night snack. It was Lana's favorite place to be.

Sitting on the edge of the fishing dock by the lake, Lana dangled her feet off the edge of the platform. She came here every night to stare into the lake and take in the sounds of nature. Sometimes she'd only take a few minutes. Other times she'd stay for hours and hours on end. This night was one of the latter nights. Lana looked up into the moon and hummed a simple melody quietly to herself. A gentle breeze blew her long red hair into her face, which she promptly fixed by brushing back behind her ear.

Looking at the moon, Lana couldn't help but wonder where Rinoa was right now. Was she looking at the same moon as her? Was she thinking about her? Was she even still alive? The thoughts plagued Lana's mind constantly, it was the major thing that prevented her from sleeping most nights. She brought her legs up to her chest and curled into a ball.

"Wherever you are, I hope you're okay," she whispered to herself. Or maybe that was a prayer? She didn't even know anymore. She could feel the tears start to well up in her eyes as thoughts of her younger sister filled her mind, as well as the soul-crushing realization that she would most likely never see her sister again. This, of course, only made her remember Sofie as well, whose gravestone was just a few yards away from her near the lakefront right next to her house. "I miss you," she choked back on her tears. "I miss you both so much..." It was all she could do to stop herself from full-blown weeping at the knowledge that her two baby sisters were gone. Not only had she failed them, she had failed her parents as well. She was the oldest, she was supposed to protect Rinoa and Sofie with her life. But now? There was almost nothing left of either of them. Just one gravestone, and a mentally-unstable shell of her former sister who had to be exiled across the continent for murdering one of their own. That's all that remained.

Suddenly, Lana heard footsteps behind her walking across the dock. She quickly wiped away her tears the best she could and looked behind her to see who her unwelcome guest was. He expression immediately turned sour.

"Hey there, Lana," Alan greeted her a little awkwardly. He had stayed up to do some extra potion brewing that night, and decided a stroll through the town would help clear his mind. When he saw Lana sitting alone on the docks, something inside him compelled him to go over and talk with her. Looking at her reaction now, though, he was starting to have second thoughts.

"What do you want?" Lana replied coldly as she turned away from him to look back at the lake. Alan assumed she would react like that going by their recent encounters, but he was still determined to extend an olive branch of friendship to her, or at least hold some sort of conversation. He remembered what Hunter told him the other day on their way to the Testificate village about what Lana and her sisters had gone though. It was a depressing story, and he could really start to understand Lana's behavior the past few days.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry," he started. "Hunter told me the other day about Sofie and Rinoa and... well, I know how you feel."

"Do you?" Lana asked, almost mockingly. Alan nodded, even though she couldn't see it.

"I lost my younger brother the first night at the Capitol. Well, I lost my whole family that night, really. Everyone here has lost nearly everything. I... I just wanted you to know that if you ever needed to talk about anything..." his voiced trailed off. He already wasn't the best at social interaction, so this was way out of his comfort zone. Lana just sat there, motionless, not saying anything. Alan winced at the cold treatment.

 _This was probably a mistake,_ he thought to himself. His intentions were good, but Lana just seemed like she was determined to hate him. He lowered his head, slightly disappointed, and turned to walk away. He was about half-way across the dock when a voice came out behind him.

"Wait," Lana asked. He turned around to see her finally looking at him. It was dark, but her expression didn't seem malicious. She let out a heavy sigh of defeat and turned back to the lake. "Come sit down," she said, scooting over to the side to allow Alan to sit next to her, which he gladly did.

For a few long seconds, neither one of them said anything, and Alan was starting to feel even more uncomfortable than he had been when she just refused to acknowledge him. Finally, however, she spoke up.

"I'm sorry for stabbing you in the arm, and voting against you in the community meeting, and treating you bad and... yeah. Everything." For the first time since they met, Alan got to hear Lana's voice without any venom in her words. He almost didn't know what to say. For the past few days now his only interaction with her had been coated in very aggressive hostility, but now she seemed genuinely apologetic, even nice. Alan didn't even know she had this side to her.

"Why did you stab me in the first place?" he asked. Alan began to wonder that if Lana was actually a nice person like everyone else in Hunter's Watch claimed she was, why was she so cold towards him in the first place. Lana covered her face with her hands and groaned. She actually seemed embarrassed.

"Because," her voice was muffled by her hands. "I didn't trust you, and I thought it's what Rinoa would have done in that situation," she admitted. She looked up at Alan. "I really did think you could have been trying to poison Hunter, you know. And Rinoa... Between me, her, and Sofie, she was the fighter. After the mobs invaded, we made our way to Spawn Pointe. Rinoa joined up with this mercenary gang to help pay for our housing there as well as our way into the city. Without her, we would have been out in the streets like most people were." Lana hated thinking about those months in Spawn Pointe. Disease, starvation, and crime were rampant in the last days of the Empire, and Spawn Pointe was the center for it all after the Capitol fell. She looked back up at Alan. "In a lot of ways, she was the older sister during that time, and I was just there not doing anything. It made me feel... useless." She looked down, feeling the years of regret piled onto her shoulders. Alan shook his head.

"I'm sure that's not true. Besides, you can't think of it like that. I mean, who knows what would have happened to Rinoa and Sofie had you not been there to look after them? You can't take the blame for what happened. It's not you fault." He smiled at her. "Besides, I was a big brother too, so I know how those sorts of things work out."

Lana couldn't help but let out a slight laugh at this. She couldn't believe that this guy, who just a few minutes earlier she had nothing but disdain for, was starting to actually make her feel better, even if it was just a little bit.

"You know," she said, smiling as she remembered her story. "Rinoa dyed her hair pink," she laughed.

"Pink?" Alan laughed along with her. "Unusual colour for a hair dye."

Lana nodded.

"When we were kids, Rinoa was so jealous of my red hair. Our mom had red hair, like mine, and our dad had darker, brown hair, like yours. Rinoa and Sofie got our father's brown hair, and I got our mom's red hair, and she _hated_ having brown hair. So, she goes to an dye stand in the Capitol one day and steals a bottle of what she thought looked like red dye," Lana smirked. "Except it wasn't red."

Alan raised his eyebrows, clearly amused by the story. "I think I can see where this is going. So, what happened then?"

"Well, mom and dad came home that day to find Rinoa bawling her eyes out with pink hair, Sofie with an unchanged diaper, and me in the corner laughing hysterically at it all," Lana beamed as she imagined the scene in her head again. "Believe it or not, though, but eventually Rin decided that she actually liked it. Said it made her look unique. 'It's better than brown hair,' she'd use to say. She's been dying her hair pink ever since." Her smile faded as she looked down into the black surface of the water. "That was... That was a long time ago, though." Lana felt like the tears were about to start coming again.

"You know, we shouldn't be enemies. We're on the same side here, after all," Alan pointed out, distracting Lana from the memories of her childhood. She looked over at him.

"I know." Lana nodded.

"So, let's be friends instead!" Alan said enthusiastically. Lana looked slightly bewildered by the suggestion.

"'Friends?'" She repeated, wondering if he was serious or not. "After how I've treated you the past few days you wanna be friends?"

"Sure, why not?" Alan asked. "I mean, just look at your name! Lana is-"

"If you're gonna make a joke about what my name is backwards, save your breath," Lana angrily cut Alan off mid-sentence. "I've heard that joke all my life..." She huffed, clearly annoyed.

"What...?" Alan was confused. "No, that's not what I was going to say at all. I was going to say that our names are the same letters just in different order," he pointed out. "A-L-A-N and L-A-N-A. So, like, that's pretty much destiny right there," he extended his hand toward Lana for a handshake. "Besides, you've talked more these past few minutes than you have all week to me, so that's gotta be progress, right?" Lana looked at his hand, dumbfounded. She wasn't really sure how to react. One conversation and suddenly they're friends? It was... funny. Finally, she just giggled and abruptly stood up.

"Whatever you say, Mr. 'Destiny,'" she teased. "You're a funny guy, Alan."

Alan gave a small, comedic bow. "I try my best." He wasn't sure if she meant 'funny' as in weird, or 'funny' as in humorous, but he took it as a compliment either way.

"Well," Lana shuffled her feet, not exactly sure what to say. "Guess I'll see you tomorrow then... friend." A genuine, real smile creeped across her lips, and Alan felt a rush of relief wash over him.

"Sure thing, friend," he responded as he returned her smile with his own.

And with that, Lana turned to walk down the dock back to her house. Alan turned back to stare into the lake. He felt good. Real good. Part of him had been tempted to just avoid Lana after the whole stabbing incident, but he felt like he had made the right choice. He felt... content. He was putting his alchemy knowledge to good use while helping people, he had his own house to sleep in without having to worry about the mobs, he was friends with Hunter, George, and now Lana; and for the first time since before he could even remember, the future seemed... hopeful. He took in a deep breath of the cool, night air as he laid down on his back, gazing into the night sky, counting the numerous stars in the sky above him.

He was looking forward to his new life.

* * *

In the treeline in front of Hunter's Watch, just outside of the field of view for the guard tower, three shadowy figures took cover behind a tree, taking great care not to cause any sort of noise or disturbance with their presence. The cover of night cloaked them with a canopy of darkness as they surveyed the area. Their scouts had just discovered this community only a few days prior, and they had decided to come see for themselves if the town looked to be worth it. The walls seemed to be the biggest problem, but only a minor hindrance. No way to tell how many people were behind the walls, but it mattered very little. They had their god on their side.

One of the figures stepped forward to whisper to his leader. " _Monsieur_ ," his voice was barely audible. "I suggest we return to camp and come back before sunrise. A night attack would be advantageous to us in this situation." His accent was heavy, even in a whisper. His leader looked toward the gate of the town and thought for a second.

" _Non_ ," he finally replied as he placed his hand on his comrade's shoulder. "We give them a chance. We give everyone a chance. That's what separates us from the filth of this world. It's what _he_ would want," he grinned as he tightened the grip on his subordinate's shoulder as his subordinate hung his head in shame.

"Forgive me, _monsieur._ You are right."

"All is forgiven, child," the leader spoke as he eased his grip. Their third comrade stepped forward from the shadows.

" _Monsieur_ Jericho," she addressed her leader. "If we aren't attacking tonight, we should held back to camp. The mobs get lively at night," She was curt, but not disrespectful.

Her leader, Jericho, nodded. "We will return tomorrow and give them the same options as we did the unholy Testificates..."

Jericho smiled as he remembered the glory of their conquest. A conquest that was only made possible through the benevolence of their lord. He took one last look at the town that laid before them. The next target for the _La Sainte Armee des Calamars_ on their holy crusade.

"Convert, or die..." Jericho whispered.

* * *

 _ **Next Chapter: Blue Fire**_

* * *

 _ **A/N: Enter Jericho...:) Okay, so, this chapter was really kind of boring to write, and I hope that wasn't the case for reading it. I also think I wrote this chapter in a record amount of time, so I hope that didn't reflect poorly in the writing itself. Also, remember how I said I was gonna try and keep the chapters shorter? *Shrugs.* Yeah, me neither. As always, reviews and feedback are appreciated. Gonna work really hard to get the next chapter out soon, because we're (finally) getting to the good stuff. Stay tuned!**_


	8. Book 1, Chapter 7: Blue Fire

_**Book 1: The Mob Invasion  
Chapter 7: Blue Fire**_

 ** _Days Since the Mob Invasion: 747  
_**

* * *

Rinoa stared at the witch sitting across the room from her. Behind the small wooden table, the cloaked figure patiently waited with a crooked smirk on her face. The walls were adorned with dozens of candles, each burning a dim blue flame. Zoe was behind her, still pleading with her to come with her and leave the witch's hut. Rinoa could not hear her pleas through a light ringing in her head.

"Sofie..." Rinoa spoke softly. "You said... Sofie. You knew Sofie?" Rinoa asked the witch.

"Please, Rinoa Carr. Sit down." Yet again the witch politely requested Rinoa to sit across from her at the table. Rinoa originally didn't want to and yet, after hearing the witch mention Sofie's name, she felt compelled to. She walked toward the chair adjacent to the witch's, but was stopped by something grabbing her sleeve.

"Rin, wait!" Zoe asked as she grabbed her friend's sleeve to stop her. "Let's just leave, okay? We can just go!" Zoe had a terrible feeling about this. She had heard legends growing up about the power and the evils that were the witches and warlocks of the Minecraftia swamps. If the woman in front of them truly was a witch, which Zoe was sure that she was, their best bet was to turn tail and run as fast as they could out the door and not to look back.

Rinoa only stopped briefly to hear Zoe's proposal before shaking her wrist from Zoe's grip. "You can leave, but I'm going to stay... I have to." She said, finally making her way over to the chair and sitting down.

"Rin..." Zoe's heart sank. The witch smiled at this, showing off the few teeth left attached to her gums. Zoe debated whether or not to turn out the door and leave, but decided against it.

She wasn't going to leave Rinoa alone.

"So," Rinoa started, now that she was sitting just feet away from the witch. "How do you know Sofie, and how do you know my name? I want answers," she demanded. The witch cackled at this madly, before the cackling transformed into a series of coughs. The elderly woman did not seem to be in the best of health. Finally after she recomposed herself, she sat up straight and smiled.

"So determined, Ms. Rinoa Carr. I've been watching your progress these past few days, you know. Thrown out of Hunter's Watch. Expelled. Banished. All for getting revenge for your beloved sister, Sofie. It's quite tragic, really. And yet, even still, you press on!" the witch exclaimed before leaning in close. Rinoa could see the wrinkles from old-age under her hood as well as the witch's unnaturally purple eyes. They seemed to glow in the darkness rather than reflect light. Rinoa couldn't help but feel uneasy looking at them. "You are like an ocelot, Rinoa, about to pounce on her prey," the witch smiled.

"Rin," Zoe spoke up after hearing the witch. "W-what is she talking about?" she asked. Rinoa had told her earlier that day that she had been separated from her friends from Hunter's Watch on a supply run, not that she had been banished. Rinoa didn't respond, or even acknowledge Zoe.

"Hahaha! What? She didn't tell you?" the witch asked in between laughs. "Child, you really should be more careful of who you choose to travel with, especially in times such as these."

 _ **SLAM!**_

"Enough bullshit!" Rinoa abruptly stood up as her fists slammed against the table. "Tell me what you know about my sister or I will make you regret it!"

The witch frowned at this, unimpressed.

"Sit down, child. Don't mistake impulsiveness for bravery," she scolded. Rinoa stared at her for a few seconds, trying to gauge her expression. The witch was hard to read, she was a clearly frail woman, and yet she looked as if she had all the odds in her favor, like she couldn't possibly lose. Finally, Rinoa eased up and sat back down. "Good," the witch smiled.

"Just tell me what you want," Rinoa said, quieter this time.

"I'm glad you ask, Ms. Carr. You're on your way to Hunter's Watch, correct? No doubt you want revenge for your exile."

"And for covering up Sofie's death," Rinoa replied. The witch raised her eyebrow.

"Oh? And what makes you think that William was truly responsible for your sister's death, hmm?" The witch sounded like she was feigning curiosity, as if she already knew the answer. Rinoa shifted uneasily in her seat.

"Her-... her neck was broken. William was the only one on gate duty that night, he had to have killed her then. I don't buy that bullshit story that he spun about how she went out for alchemy supplies," Rinoa explained.

"Haha, child! And why would William do that?" the witch humored her. Rinoa looked flustered.

"I... I don't know. I've asked myself the same thing but... I don't know," she admitted.

"And did you not consider that perhaps Sofie simply snuck out without William's knowing, hmm? That perhaps her breaking her neck was a result from a fall as she gathered alchemy ingredients in the meadow?" the witch asked. Rinoa looked up, shocked. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was open.

"Are you telling me... William didn't kill my sister? That I-... that I killed him for no reason?" Rinoa had never really considered what the witch was telling her as a possibility. She was so blinded by rage after her sister's death that it _had_ to be William's fault. It just had to.

The witch stared at Rinoa for what felt like eternity before she burst into laughter.

"Bahaha! No, of course he killed her! Still, it's funny that you never considered any other possibilities," the witch cackled, clearly pleased with the mind games she was playing.

"Rin," once again Zoe spoke up from behind Rinoa trying to get her attention.

"Not now, Zoe," Rinoa responded clearly annoyed, though her annoyance was more due to the witch than Zoe. "So, William killed my sister? I already knew that, that's why I killed him. Is there anything else you wanted to add, old hag, or should I just start walking?"

"'Old hag'?" The witch repeated, feigning insult. "Why, I think I look good for my age! But before you go, I should tell you: William wasn't the only one responsible for your sister's murder. There was somebody else pulling the strings."

Rinoa recoiled slightly at this, clearly shocked. _Somebody else?_

"But... who?" she asked.

"Ah, see, this is the part where you do me a favor and I do you a favor. You want to know who else was responsible for your sister's death? Then make it worth my while. Sounds simple enough?" the witch asked as she leaned in close, her purple eyes not breaking eye contact with Rinoa.

"What do you need?" Rinoa asked without hesitation. Whatever the witch's price, it was worth it to know who else killed Sofie that night. This seemed to please the witch.

"Your path is already set, young ocelot. Continue on your way to Hunter's Watch. Once you get there, you will find the directions you seek. Look for the man with the familiar face whose name you do not know. He shall guide you... And you shall get the revenge you seek as well!" the witch once again let out a series of laughs. Rinoa furrowed her brow at this.

"What does that even mean? Just tell me what you want! Tell me who else is responsible for my sister's murder!" Rinoa demanded with authority.

 _ **Woosh!**_

Suddenly the blue torches that had been lighting up the room were extinguished, as if a strong breeze had blown them all out at the same time. Zoe let out a scream at the sudden darkness, and even Rinoa jumped in shock.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," the witch clicked her tongue. "It looks like we're out of time for now." Her purple eyes glowed in the pitch black room.

"Wait!" Rinoa called out. "How do you know all this!? Who are you?" Rinoa asked, standing up from the table. Even though she couldn't tell, she was sure the witch was cracking another toothless smile from behind the darkness at her questioning.

"Who am I?" the witch chuckled. She too stood up, and walked around the table until her purple eyes were staring into Rinoa's just inches away. "I'm just the harbinger for something greater. Greater than humanity, greater than the mob invasion. Something you couldn't possibly fathom, my dear," She was so close, Rinoa could feel her breath hit her face. It was unnaturally cold.

"For what?" Rinoa asked as she felt fearful for the first time. Her entire body was paralyzed as she felt her skin crawl with a cold sweat. This wasn't just a normal witch that lived in solitude and brewed potions, there was something more sinister about this one. The witch leaned in close until her lips were right beside Rinoa's ears.

"The End..."

 _ **Snap!**_

With a snap of the witch's fingers, Rinoa and Zoe were both lying face down on the cold, wooden floor of the hut. Zoe was the first to open her eyes as she looked around the room, trying to get a feel for her bearings.

"Where- where did she go?" Zoe asked, unwilling to believe that the witch had just disappeared into thin air. Rinoa rose to her feet holding her head.

"What the fuck was that? Who was she?" Rinoa was equally as confused. She looked around the empty hut with no clear sign of the witch.

"Wait, Rinoa... Look," Zoe pointed up at the ceiling as rays of light were trickling through the cracks. Rinoa's eyes widened.

"No fucking way..." Rinoa gasped. She quickly ran to the door that led outside and burst through it.

Morning.

* * *

 _ **Days Since the Mob Invasion: 748**_

* * *

The morning sun was shining through the trees and moss of the swamp. Their horse was still tied up where they left it, seemingly unharmed. There was a distant sound of a bird chirping in the air as nature began its morning chores.

"But... but how?!" Zoe was able to ask after about a minute of taking it all in. "It was night just a few minutes ago, I don't even remember falling asleep."

"It must have been something the witch did to us," Rinoa concluded. She had never seen anything like this. One snap of the witches fingers, and suddenly it's morning? Rinoa shuddered. "C'mon," she beckoned. "Let's get the hell out of here." She walked over to the horse and untied it from the tree. She looked back to help Zoe saddle up, only to see she wasn't moving. "What's wrong? Let's go, hurry." Still, Zoe didn't budge.

"What the witch said... just awhile ago," Zoe started, looking intently into Rinoa's eyes. "Was it true?" she asked. Rinoa froze as her mind scrambled on what she should say. Her eyes met Zoe's, but she was unable to maintain contact. She turned away.

"Yeah. It was true," she replied. Zoe stood there a few seconds, clearly confused.

"Why? Why lie to me about this? You told me you were separated from your friends, not that you had been banished for murder! I trusted you..." Zoe had tears of anger start to well up in her eyes. She couldn't believe Rinoa had lied to her.

"Look," Rinoa rubbed her brow, "it's not that simple, alright? It's complicated. The less you know about it, the better." Rinoa turned her back to Zoe as she checked the horse's saddle.

"'It's complicated?'" Zoe scoffed. "Is that really all the explanation you're going to give me? Rin, if we're going to travel like this, I need to trust you! If you'd just tell me what happened, I can-"

"Enough!" Rinoa spun around back towards Zoe. "Our deal was that you would come along with me until I find you someplace safe to drop you off, and in return you'd use your bow to take care of any creepers along the way, right?!" Rinoa practically yelled.

"But-"

"No!" Rinoa interrupted yet again. "All you need to know is what you know. You don't need to know my history, you don't need to know my story, you don't need to know whatever the hell my favorite colour is or any of that shit, because I don't want to talk about it, alright?! Now, you can either stay here and wait for the witch to come back, or you can come with me until we find some community to plop you at." Rinoa hoisted herself up onto the horse's saddle. "Either way, I'm taking the damn horse, but the decision is yours."

Zoe stared at Rinoa for a long time. She felt angry, hurt, but most of all betrayed. Realizing she'd be dead on her own, especially in the middle of nowhere without a horse, she finally conceded. She sighed and hoisted herself onto the horse's saddle behind Rinoa.

"The witch was right," she stated. "I should have been more careful with who I chose to travel with."

Rinoa simply ignored Zoe's remark as she gave a small kick to the horse's side. Compass in hand, Rinoa steered the horse in the direction of the red needle.

 _Won't be too much longer now,_ Rinoa thought to herself. The meeting with the witch confirmed what she already knew in her gut: William definitely killed Sofie. But it also gave her something that she had never considered before, something that slowly began to eat away at her as she tried to find the answer.

Somebody else from Hunter's Watch was involved in Sofie's murder. And Rinoa intended to find out.

* * *

 _ **Meanwhile**_

As the morning sun rose over Hunter's Watch, Daren sat on top of the gate, ever watchful of the treeline. The leaves were starting to change their colours and fall from the branches, a clear sign that winter was fast upon them. The makeshift greenhouse that they had made to grow crops would hopefully last them another winter. Even though they were in the South, they were still close to the Iron Mountains, and the elevation usually resulted in a much cooler climate than the rest of Southern Minecraftia. Daren shivered in the cold, his fur blanket barely enough to protect from the wind.

Out of nowhere, he heard footsteps coming up the stairs to where he was sitting. _Odd,_ he thought to himself. _Zeke isn't supposed to relieve my shift for another hour._ He turned to see who it was and, much to his surprise, it was Alan.

"Hey, Daren," the man greeted him with a wave and a smile. His dark brown hair was bedraggled and his clothing was wrinkled. Must have had a rough morning.

"Good morning, Alan," Daren nodded back at him. "What brings you up here?" he asked. Alan smiled and reached into a satchel that he had slung over his shoulder. He pulled out a flask of something filled with a blueish liquid. Daren raised his brow. "What's that?"

"It's something I've been working on. It's supposed to be a potion of cold resistance. I figured, since it's gonna start getting a lot colder now, I could make you some while you're on gate duty. That way you don't have to worry about, you know, freezing to death." He extended the potion out towards Daren. "Here, try it."

Daren was surprised. He hadn't had many opportunities to talk to Alan the past few days, so the act of generosity was unexpected. "I... Thank you, Alan." He took the flask and popped the top off. He gave it a quick sniff, then downed the potion in one shot. "Whew!" Daren coughed back a bit. "It isn't gonna be known for its taste, Alan. It tastes like bottled fire. Are you sure this isn't just alcohol?" Daren chuckled before handing the empty flask back to Alan.

"No, it's not alcohol. Though Hunter probably wishes that it were," Alan joked. "So, how do you feel? Any warmer?"

"I feel... good. Really good," Daren admitted. "It feels like my skin is finally starting to thaw. This is amazing, Alan." Daren took his glove off and held his hand against the wind. He could feel the wind flow through his fingers, but there was no chill. "Huh, I wish we had something like this during winter training with the spear legion."

"Hunter told me you were with the spear legion. He told me you had a nickname with them, even," Alan stated. Daren let out a small laugh.

"'The Impaler', right?" he asked. Alan nodded. "You know, you're probably one of the only people that I've met that hasn't heard about that nickname before," Daren smiled. Alan seemed shocked.

"Is, uh, is that bad?" he asked. Daren shook his head.

"No, not at all. I rather prefer it, actually. For awhile after the Edgelands Rebellion, people seemed to care more about 'The Impaler' than they did 'Daren.' It was hard living up to the stories," Daren confessed. "The only one that seemed to get me was my Lieutenant; my fiancé," he sighed.

"Fiancé? I thought fraternization wasn't allowed in Notch's military?"

"It wasn't. We were engaged in secret. Planned on getting married after the Edgelands Rebellion and leaving the military to live in the country side. We had everything planned out, too. Then about a week before our marriage..."

"The mob invasion..." Alan finished. Daren nodded.

"Yeah... Needless to say, things didn't work out," Daren stated bluntly, crossing his arms and surveying the tree-line.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Daren. Really, I am. I'm sure she was a great woman," Alan sympathized, placing his hand on Daren's shoulder for support. Daren closed his eyes and smiled.

"Yeah, _he_ was a great _guy_ ," he corrected. Alan's eyes widened.

"Oh! I-I'm sorry, I didn't-"

"It's okay, Alan. I didn't expect you to know. No offense taken," Daren laughed. "We met during my training. He taught me everything that I know about combat. After my training, I was assigned as an officer with his unit. He led us to battles that looked like suicide missions during the Edgelands Rebellion. But we survived. And we won." Daren smiled, unable to stop himself from reminiscing.

"And the nickname 'Impaler'?" Alan asked. Daren thought in silence for a second before turning back toward Alan.

"I'll tell you... someday. As for right now, though, I need to stay focused on the treeline. Look for any mobs or griefers." He stood up and stretched his legs. He looked at Alan and smiled. "Thank you for the potion, Alan. And for the talk. Sometimes it gets a little lonely when you're nocturnal."

"No problem, Daren. Let me know if you need anything, alright?" Alan returned Daren's smile with his own and turned to leave.

"Will do, Alan. Thanks again."

Alan walked back towards his home as Daren watched him from the gate, slightly curiously. There was something different about Alan. Most people lost their generosity after the mob invasion... but not Alan. Daren thought for a split second, then shook his head. At any rate, it was nice that goodwill wasn't completely dead yet. He turned back to keep watch over the treeline and-

 _ **Thwunk!**_

An arrow zipped out from behind the trees, catching him in the middle of his right shoulder. He gasped at the shock of the impact as he fell backwards off the top of the gate, slamming into the ground below with a sickening thud. He felt the breath knocked out of him as he slowly lifted his head up to see the arrow sticking out of his shoulder.

Hunter's Watch was under attack.

* * *

 ** _Next Chapter: Jericho (Pt. 1)  
_**

* * *

 _ **A/N: This chapter is late because I went on a Mass Effect marathon from Mass Effect 1 to 3. I have no excuses.**  
_


	9. Book 1, Chapter 8: Jericho (Pt 1)

_**Book 1: The Mob Invasion  
Chapter 8: Jericho (Pt. 1)  
**_

 ** _Days Since the Mob Invasion: 748_**

* * *

 _Running. Hunter could feel the cold, winter wind as it stung his lungs with each gasp of air he took in. The dead, black trees were a stark contrast against the canopy of freshly fallen snow that covered the forest like a blanket. His eyes were wide open with fear as he ran, dodging any trees or dead branches that were in his way. The sun was setting, and nightfall was creeping up on him. Slowly but surely he was running out of time._

 _"I gotta find him," he muttered out to himself mid-panting. He had found tracks not too far from the riverbed where he had last seen him, but the recent snowfall had covered any useful footprints or markings that he could have used. They had been separated for three days now, and Hunter knew that with each passing hour, the odds of finding his father got smaller and smaller._

 _His eyes were darting all over the forest, desperately searching for any signs of life. Finally, out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement._

 _"Dad?!" Hunter called out, turning in the direction of the person in the distance. It appeared to be someone crouched over a tree stump looking at something. "Dad!" Hunter again called out as he sprinted through the snow to the shadowy figure. As he got closer to him, tears began to roll down Hunter's face. "Dad! I've been looking everywhere for you! I thought-" Hunter stopped._

 _That wasn't his father._

 _The figure stood up from its crouched position and turned towards Hunter. Even in the dim lighting, Hunter could tell what it was. A zombie. The creature's rotting skin and black, hollow eyes weren't any indication enough, the dripping blood from a fresh kill was freely flowing down the zombie's chin. Hunter opened his mouth to scream in horror, but nothing came out._

 _"Graaaagh!" the zombie groaned out as it started to lunge towards Hunter. Hunter snapped out out it and quickly unsheathed the dagger on his hip. Hands shaking, he waited for the zombie to lunge forward, then quickly stabbed the dagger in the middle of the mob's eyes, destroying the brain. Hunter felt the resistance of the skull as it broke from the pressure of the blow, and the rotten, putrefying blood came squirting out of the wound and onto his hand and wrist. He had to choke back his vomit as the dagger slid out of the skull as the zombie fell backwards into the snow, staining the white blanket with rotten, infectious blood._

 _Panting, Hunter wiped the blood from the dagger on his pants leg before slipping it back into its sheath. He inspected the zombie for a split second. Tattered clothes, completely rotten skin, exposed bone. This zombie had been dead for awhile at this point. What Hunter was most curious about, though, was the fresh blood dripping out of the zombie's mouth. This zombie had eaten... recently._

 _Shaking, Hunter slowly followed the trail to the tree stump. The specks of blood on the snow slowly started to get larger and larger. The fresh smell of blood filled the air as Hunter's senses were assaulted by the overwhelming aroma of iron. Eyes wide, Hunter slowly circled around the tree stump to see what was on the other side. Hunter felt his hands start to shake, but it wasn't from the cold._

 _Under the dark, overcast sky, he saw it: pale, cold, and lifeless. Hunter couldn't help but stare through the tears at the sight that laid before him. His own father, dead and badly mauled with his intestines ripped from his stomach._

 _"DAD!"_

* * *

Hunter jerked awake in his bed, a cold sweat causing the sheets to cling to his skin. He sat up in bed, his breathing heavy and rapid. He reached up and held his chest; his heart was pounding. The morning sunlight was just barely starting to shine in through the cracks in his window's blinds.

"Just a dream, Hunter... Just a dream. You're okay," he calmly reassured himself. He held up his hand and noticed the involuntary muscle spasms that he was all too used to by this point. He let out a dry laugh. "Heh... withdrawals are a bitch."

He reached over and picked up a bottle of whiskey and shot glass that he kept next to him at all times on his nightstand.

"Can't even get a full night's sleep without this crap," Hunter muttered as he unscrewed the top of the whiskey. Hands still spasming, he shakily poured the whiskey into the glass, spilling a few drops during the process. A half-full cup was still better than an empty one, Hunter figured.

He downed back the shot and slammed the shot glass back on the nightstand along with the bottle. He closed his eyes on concentrated for a second on relaxing his muscles. After about two full minutes, he finally felt his hands stop twitching and he let out a sigh of relief. Every time it took longer and longer for them to stop. Pretty soon, he was worried that they wouldn't stop at all. Hunter groaned then laid back down in bed, pulling the covers up to his chin as he stared at the ceiling.

"I don't think I'm going to leave the bed today."

* * *

Frederick was sitting at his desk reading a book, using the morning rays of sun coming through his window as a light source. Frederick lived in the back room of the community center for Hunter's Watch, which just so happened to be one of the biggest bedrooms in the community. Early to bed and early to rise had been Frederick's life motto, even after arriving in Hunter's Watch. It was almost as if he held a contest with the sun every morning to see who would get up first. Nine times out of ten, Frederick won. Since he was the de facto leader of the little community, he figured it would set a bad precedent if he ended up sleeping all day.

The book he was reading was an old book of war written by Commander Steve, Notch's military commander during the Baron Wars. Frederick had read it twice before, but considering that there weren't many new books being published nowadays, he had to make due with what he had. After turning a few more pages, he marked the page he left off at before standing up from his desk and stretching. He scratched his chin which was starting to grow some white stubble on it.

 _I'll have to fix that,_ he thought to himself. He hated the feel of stubble, and mentally chastised himself for allowing some to grow. He walked over to the corner of the room that he had designated as his personal wash area and began his grooming. Bucket of water, mirror, shaving spices, soaps, oils; Frederick didn't let the mob invasion stop him from spoiling himself. After about 20 minutes, his face was smooth and his scent was clean.

He smiled to himself, "Good, good." The other members of Hunter's Watch were either indifferent to personal hygiene, or saw it as a straight up waste of time since the mob invasion. But not Frederick. In Frederick's mind, this was one of the only things separating himself from the savages outside the gates. Plus, it was nice to have a daily regiment of some sorts. Kept the mind in check.

Suddenly, there was a loud pounding on his door.

"Who is it?" he asked, slightly annoyed at the interruption. Without bothering to ask permission, Lana busted through the door in a hurry. Her long, red hair was disheveled, and her eyes darted around the room until she saw Frederick in the corner still wearing his sleeping gown.

Her breathing was heavy. "Frederick, you need to come quickly!"

Frederick seemed caught off guard. "Lana? What's wrong? What happened?"

"It's Daren," she explained. "He's been shot with an arrow."

Frederick's face immediately turned stern at this as the severity of the situation sank in. He told Lana that he'd be just a second, and she ran out the room apparently to go check up on Daren. Frederick quickly got out of his sleeping gown and put on his robes. Before he left to leave the room, he pulled out a large box under his bed. Quickly opening it, he pulled out the contents: One officer's saber with a golden hilt, and a polished leather cuirass. Quickly tying the cuirass over his robes, he ran out the door with his sword in hand, hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.

* * *

"Hold still, Daren," Alan firmly commanded as he inspected the arrow sticking out of Daren's shoulder.

Daren grunted, "I'm trying, Alan..." He sounded annoyed by Alan's request. It's not like it was Daren's fault that his nerves were twitching, he had an arrow sticking out of him.

Lana came rushing over to them. "I got Frederick, and Zeke was still asleep before I woke him up. They should be out in a minute," she panted.

"Should I go get Hunter?" George piped up next to Daren. Him, Alan, and Lana had formed a small semi-circle around Daren as he lay sprawled on the ground from his injury.

"I'll get him," Lana panted before immediately rushing off to the other side of town to Hunter's house. This left just Alan and George with Daren.

"Daren, I'm gonna try to remove it, okay? I got a potion of healing right here, I'm going to apply it soon as I pull it out, alright?" Alan spoke reassuringly, like a doctor that had done this sort of thing before. Daren had originally attributed Alan's generosity and friendliness to weakness, but he was clearly wrong. Alan didn't seem the least bit shook up by the sight of an arrow sticking out of his friend's shoulder. Not like how Lana was when she first saw him like this.

Daren sighed, "Just make it quick, Ala-AGH!"

The quick sting of the arrow being pulled out interrupted Daren mid-sentence. He was about to start cussing Alan out, but the sudden relief of the healing potion being poured onto his wounds quickly eased his anger.

"Wonderful, you're doing great, Daren. Just let the healing potion do the work," Alan spoke softly, tossing the bloodied arrow over the side as he watched the healing potion slowly start to have it's desired effect on Daren's shoulder.

Within a minute, the bleeding had completely stopped, and the wound was healed.

"Alright, you're good," Alan smiled.

"Does this mean I can stand up now?" Daren looked over to Alan. Alan nodded. Without wasting any time, Daren quickly picked himself up and rose to his feet. His ribs were still a little sore from the fall, but other than that he felt fine.

"You're lucky you were wearing that chainmail," Alan pointed out. He picked up the arrow and held it up for George and Daren to both see. "Only the tip was able to break the skin," he pointed to the bloody iron tip of the arrow, but the shaft of the arrow was completely clean. "Without the chainmail, though, would have went in much deeper. Probably would have splintered some bone. Would have required more potions."

Daren reached over and took the arrow from Alan's hands and he rolled it around his fingers for a split second, watching the blood as it began to drip down the wooden shaft..

 _Wait... wooden shaft?_

"That's not an arrow from a skeleton archer..." Daren realized as his eyes widened a bit. George looked over at the arrow to confirm this. Daren was correct.

"No, it's not," Alan agreed, seemingly unsurprised. "I noticed when I first saw it. The mobs' make arrows out of their own teeth and bone, not woode. This is a griefer's arrow, which means whoever did this could still be outside those gates..."

Daren and George looked at each other, both showing a little worry in their eyes.

"Daren!" Frederick's voice filled the sudden silence as he and Zeke came rushing out of the community center together. Zeke was carrying his large claymore with him, and Frederick himself looked like he was ready for battle.

Daren sighed and turned toward the both of them, "Frederick. Better late than never."

Frederick seemed offended by this. "I came as quickly as I could, Daren... Where did you get shot, I don't see any wounds?" he asked, looking over his friend for any signs of damage.

"It got better, thanks to our alchemist here," Daren pointed toward Alan, who gave a small smile. Frederick laughed at this, relieved.

"Ah, good, good. Once again, I'm glad we accepted you, Alan!" he walked over and gave Alan a firm pat on the shoulder for a job well-done. "So what was it, a skeleton archer?" he asked, out of the loop.

Alan shook his head as Daren stepped forward with the arrow. He handed it over to Frederick who looked over it curiously for a second before his eyes shot open.

"But-... but skeleton archers use arrows made out of bone. This is wood," he observed. Zeke sighed loudly behind him.

"So it was a griefer then?" Zeke's booming voice concluded. "Did you get a good look at him, Daren? Which way he went? I swear, I will slice him down the middle if we were to ever find him again!" Zeke proclaimed loudly, brandishing his sword for emphasis.

Daren rubbed his head, "No. I didn't see him. He shot from the treeline. I didn't see where he went either, but I'm sure he's long gone now."

Briskly walking, Lana came up the group. She gave a slight smile at the sight of Daren on his feet again and healed. George noticed she was alone, however.

"Lana?" George asked. "Where's Hunter?"

Lana let out a tired sigh. "He's, uh, not really feeling so well, guys."

"Not feeling well?!" Frederick scoffed loudly. "Why, Daren here just got shot by some griefer that's heaven only knows where by now, and _Hunter's_ the one that's not feeling well?!" Frederick seemed livid at Hunter's unusual absence, but his yelling only seemed to piss Lana off, who was showing visible signs of frustration. "Fine!" Frederick concluded. " _I_ will go fetch Hunter, since he seems to think that-"

"ATTENTION ALL RESIDENTS OF THE COMMUNITY!"

A woman's booming voice came out from the other side of the gates, cutting Frederick off.

"COME OUT WITH YOUR WEAPONS SHEATHED AND YOUR HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEAD AND YOU SHALL NOT BE HARMED!"

For a second, nobody in the group dared to move. They all looked over at each other, clearly waiting for someone to be the first to make a decision on what to do.

"Who the hell is that?!" Lana whispered to Frederick.

"I don't know!" Frederick whispered back.

"What should we do, Frederick?" George asked as he started to panic.

" _I don't know!_ " Frederick repeated, clearly overwhelmed by this recent turn of events.

Alan looked around surveying the emotions of the group. Fear seemed to be the primary emotion, except for one person: Daren, stonefaced and calm as ever.

"Daren?" Alan whispered out. Daren looked over at him and nodded. "What should we do?" he asked.

Everyone looked over at Daren, waiting for his response. Daren furrowed his brow as he concentrated, then looked up at the sky as if he'd find the correct answer written in the clouds. Finally, Daren looked back at the group, his face more determined than ever. The change in his demeanor was visible.

"Alright, we don't know how many there are or what they're equipped with other than a bow, but we have the defending position's advantage. Zeke, George, and Alan, come with me toward the gate with your weapons unsheathed. These people need to know that we're armed and ready." Alan and the others nodded at this, grateful to have instructions on what to do. Daren pointed at Frederick in the corner of the group, "Frederick, come with us and see if you can't try to be diplomatic. Hopefully we'll be able to resolve this matter peacefully." Frederick nodded, though fear was clearly painted on his face as beads of sweat began to form on his brow. "Lana, get Hunter and tell him what's at stake here. We need every available man, understood?"

Lana was breathing heavy and shaking a little bit, "Daren, he's barely responsive. I-I think he drank too much, I don't know if I can-"

" _Make_ him get up, Lana, this is not open for discussion!" Daren ordered with the tone that you'd give an insubordinate soldier. Lana quickly nodded and ran off to find Hunter.

"COME OUT WITH YOUR WEAPONS SHEATHED. WE WILL NOT ASK AGAIN!" Once again the voice boomed out from behind the other side of the gate.

"Coming!" Daren shouted out behind him. Then he turned to the others, "Okay guys, this is it. On me, don't let them get a clear shot at you, okay? Follow me."

With his plain sword in hand, Alan followed closely behind Daren with George, Frederick, and Zeke as the five of them made their way to the gate. They followed alongside the stone wall around Hunter's View until they reached the iron grated gate. Daren signaled them to hold up a second, as he slowly peered his head around the corner. He quickly shot back around and turned to his brothers-in-arms behind him.

"Three," he whispered, holding up three fingers. They all collectively let out a sigh of relief. "Don't let your guard down," Daren warned. "Engaging in verbal contact with them now."

"Hello?" the same voice that had been issuing them orders from behind the gate spoke up yet again.

"Hello there," Daren said, stepping from behind the corner and in front of the iron gate. The gate was made of iron, but the grating allowed plenty of room to see on the other side of it. Daren quickly inspected the three people who stood on the other side.

On one side, a woman. She wore heavy chainmail similar to his, with a longsword sheathed on her side. Her hair was cropped short and was dark black which sharply contrasted against her pale skin. A Northerner, Daren figured, and a young one at that. She looked as if she couldn't even be in her mid 20s. Her eyes were blue and piercing, like she was ready for a fight at any moment. Her's was the voice they had been hearing issue orders.

One the other side, a man in long, dark robes stood. He was a tall, lanky man with skin much tanner than his female companion's. It was possible he was a native Southerner. He seemed very relaxed for the situation. Daren noticed a small dagger attached to his belt, but nothing else in terms of weapons. He had dark brown hair, brown eyes, and a middle-aged complexion.

And in the middle of both of them stood what Daren could only assume was their leader. Wearing what appeared to be heavy plate armour made out of a golden alloy, he seemed to emit an almost heavenly light as the morning sun reflected off of his polished armor. His sword was sheathed on his back, but it too seemed to have a golden handle. He was a tanned individual, but not enough to be considered a true Southerner; he was most likely mixed. He was clean-shaven, and he appeared to only be in his 30s. He had sandy brown hair combed neatly to the side, and bright green eyes that were staring directly at Daren and the others through the gating. He smiled.

" _Salut les amis!_ " the man greeted, bowing slightly. "My name is Jericho, and these are my two loyal officers: Amelia and Liam," he pointed to the two figures standing beside him, respectively. Liam nodded, Amelia did not. Jericho turned back to look at Daren and smiled. "May I ask what your name is, _monsieur_?"

Daren frowned, not buying the nice-guy act from Jericho. "What do you want?" he asked bluntly.

Jericho put up his hand wagged his finger negatively. " _No, no, no, monsieur._ That's not how this works!" Jericho laughed as if he were explaining something to a small child. "When a man asks for your name, you tell him your name. You know our names, so it is only fair, no?" Jericho finished his sentence with a devilish smile.

Daren pondered his options for a second, then conceded. "Daren," he responded bluntly. Jericho laughed, clearly pleased at this.

"Daren! Wonderful! Nice to meet you Daren!" Jericho once again gave a curt bow. "Why don't you open up those gates so we can talk face-to-face. It is rather rude to not invite your guests in, no?" Jericho winked, the same smile plastered on his face.

Finally, Frederick stepped from behind the corner, with Alan, George, and Zeke with him, all brandishing their swords. Jericho and his companions were outnumbered.

"Oh, and what do we have here? Company? Very good, my friends, very good! What is the saying that you people have? 'The more, the merrier'?" Jericho finished, clearly not intimidated by the numbers or the fact that they were all brandishing weapons.

Daren recognized the accent. It was an accent from the Northern parts of Minecraftia, below the Capitol. The Edgelands.

"You called me ' _monsieur_ ' just awhile ago. That's a dead baron language, why use it?" Daren asked, though he already knew the answer.

Jericho shrugged, "Not everyone adopted Notch's language after the Baron Wars, Daren. Oh, sure, the Imperial tongue was the official language of the Empire, but that didn't stop some ethnic groups from passing their language onto their sons and daughters. Like my dear _maman_ and _papa._ " Jericho laughed heartily at the small history lesson. "Besides, I think my language is a bit more... _élégant._ "

"You're from the Edgelands," Daren pointed out. Jericho held up his hands, in an exaggerated gesture of yielding.

"Haha! You got me, Daren. What can I say? My accent is pretty thick!"

"If you're from the Edgelands, then you must have heard some stories about the Impaler, right?" Daren asked, feigning curiosity. Frederick and Zeke both quickly looked over at him, there eyes wide.

George tapped him on the shoulder, "Daren!" he whispered urgently. "What are you doing?!" he asked. Daren waved him away dismissively. He knew what he was doing.

Jericho rubbed his chin, thoughtfully. "Hmmm... Yes, I know the story of the murderous, honorless, imperial bitch. Why do you ask?" Jericho's eyes squinted slightly, but he still had that small smile on his face.

Daren laughed a little at Jericho's words, clearly amused. He picked up his spear and started inspecting it for show.

"You know... I always wondered what happened to that guy, you know?" Daren admitted as he tested the sharpness of his spear's blade. "Last I heard, after the mob invasion, he went south. Far south. Even to the Iron Mountains." Daren wiped some dirt off the spear's wooden shaft as he continued speaking.

Jericho's small was starting to gradually turn into a frown the longer Daren spoke. "Is that so...?" he asked, clearly suspicious. _What is he up to?_ he wondered.

"Oh yeah," Daren replied. "He kept going after the Iron Mountains though. See, he was looking for fresh water. Eventually, though, he was able to find a gated community near a freshwater lake... Calamari Lake. You've heard of the place, right?" Daren looked up from his spear and asked.

Jericho, Amelia, and Liam all shuffled a little at this as they looked at each other. Jericho no longer seemed amused anymore.

"What are you saying, Imperial?" he demanded, the previous humor in his voice gone.

Daren chuckled softly before throwing his spear over his shoulder and resting it there.

"That 'murderous, honorless, imperial bitch' you were talking about? Funny thing... You're looking at him." Daren's expression suddenly turned serious as his brow creased in anger. "That's right... _**I**_ **am the Impaler**."

Alan saw through the grated gate as, for a split second, Jericho's expression showed a ting of fear. He looked over to his right and left at Amelia and Liam, who both has equally concerned expressions.

"You're lying!" Amelia spoke up as she pointed towards Daren, her Edgeland's accent even thicker than Jericho's.

"Am I?" Daren simply asked.

Amelia opened her mouth to speak again, but decided against it at the last second out of fear. Daren's physical features matched up exactly to the stories she had heard of the Impaler... maybe it was him. She turned to Jericho and awaited further instruction.

Jericho rubbed his brow, apparently annoyed by the recent turn of events.

"You are putting me in a difficult spot, dog." He looked up at Daren, clearly frustrated. His humor had left him as well as his smile. "Begone, dog, let me speak with your leader. I am through with you," he waved his arms dismissively.

"No, Jericho, we're through with you. Leave, now, while you still have the chance." Daren commanded, brandishing his spear.

Jericho sighed as his mouth made an almost comically exaggerated frown.

"I did not want to have to do this, _monsieur_ , but you leave me no other choice," Jericho sighed dejectedly. He put his fingers to his lips and whistled loudly.

For a split second, there was quiet... then, almost instantaneously, rustling in the treeline. Daren looked past Jericho and saw some figures slowly start to come out of the forest. His eyes shot open in shock.

"Shit..." he involuntarily let out.

Warriors. Some on horses, some not, but all of them with weapons and armour. They crawled out of the treeline, one by one as they formed a horizontal line behind Jericho, Amelia, and Liam. Jericho's smile had suddenly returned as he let out a laugh.

"Bwahah! What? You didn't think we'd try to take you on with just the three of us, did you?" he asked, wiping a tear of laughter off of his face. "Now, are you going to open the gates, or not?" Jericho asked playfully.

One...two...three...four...five...six...seven...eight...nine...ten...eleven...twelve...thirteen...fourteen... Fourteen. Alan counted fourteen people, not including Jericho and his two officers, that had come out from the treeline. Five of them on horses. Alan, looked over at George who looked back at him. Their faces both had the same paled look of fear. This was bad.

"I believe you've already gotten acquainted with our archers," Jericho gave a mischievous smile at Daren as he pointed to the longbow archers behind Liam.

"Enough!" Frederick proclaimed, pushing Daren out of the way and stepping in. "I am Frederick, the leader of this community, and I believe that we can all come to some sort of agreement here," Frederick said, attempting to offer an olive branch to Jericho.

Jericho raised his eyebrow and chuckled, "You? You're not who we thought the leader was."

Frederick looked over to Alan, Zeke, and George. They all shrugged.

"And who did you think it was?" Frederick was clearly insulted by Jericho's questioning of his leadership.

Jericho hummed quietly to himself as he looked over the faces of the people behind the gate. Dissatisfied, he shook his head.

"I don't see him. Where is the man with the fur armour and blonde hair? Bring him to me," Jericho asked.

"Hunter..." Daren muttered in realization.

"Somebody called?" Hunter's voice came out behind them. They all turned to see Hunter walking towards them with Lana following close behind. He had on his fur and leather armour, but other than that Hunter looked as if he had just rolled out of bed.

"Hunter! Where the hell have you been?" Frederick scolded, clearly frustrated. They were surrounded and outnumbered and Hunter was sitting in his house doing sleeping?

Hunter chuckled, "Sorry, Freddy, I was feeling a little under the weather. Hope you don't mind. Now, where is the-" Hunter stopped the second he saw just how many people were waiting for him behind the gate. He couldn't see all of them, through the grating, but he knew it was more than a dozen.

"I-I... they weren't..." Lana stuttered as she saw the reinforcements that Jericho had brought in for the first time. She wasn't expecting that many.

"Well, well, well, I did not know that a lady was present! _Bonjour madame_!" Jericho gave a quick bow at Lana's sudden presence. "And you there, in the fur armour!" Jericho pointed to Hunter. "You are just the man we wanted to talk to! Please, come closer so we can talk to you!"

Hunter looked around at his friends, clearly confused. None of them said anything, but they prefered to wait for Hunter to make the first move.

"Uh, sure, one second." Hunter leaned over and whispered something into Lana's ear. For a second, Lana didn't look like she understood, but then her eyes widened in realization.

"What?! We can't-"

"Yes, we can," Hunter whispered, cutting her off as he gave her a look that told her she shouldn't say anything else. She stared back into his eyes for a split second as she searched for an answer, but she eventually just nodded and walked away back in the direction of his house.

"Hey, where is she going?" Jericho asked, clearly suspicious.

"Her?" Hunter echoed as he took a step closer to the gate. "She's just going to get me another drink. I do better when I'm a little tipsy, know what I mean?" Hunter let out an exaggerated laugh. Frederick moved forward to protest.

"Hunter! Are you seriously-" Frederick's sentence was cut off by Hunter squeezing his arm as he walked by him. Hunter looked over at Frederick and gave him the same look that he gave Lana. He didn't want Frederick saying another word. Frederick, although curious, didn't say anything else.

Jericho smiled at this, "Well good, good! Never trust a man that doesn't drink, no?" he laughed. "You must be Hunter then, correct?" he asked jovially. Had it not been for the circumstances, Jericho would seem like a very pleasant man to have a conversation with. Like many people from the Edgelands, he was an excellent public speaker.

"Yep, that's me. And you are...?"

"Jericho. Well-met, friend!" Jericho beamed, giving a curt nod in Hunter's direction, which Hunter politely returned. "We wanted to talk to you because you are the leader of this community, correct?"

Hunter crossed his arms and deliberated for a moment before replying, "What makes you think that?"

"Oh, don't be coy, Hunter!" Jericho exclaimed, nudging Amelia with his elbow. "Amelia," he asked, "What did you and your scouts see the other night outside of the Testificate village?"

"Two people," Amelia spoke up, matter-of-factly. "The man with the fur armour was leading."

"And where did your scouts track him to?" Jericho inquired.

"Right here, on the outskirts of Calamari Lake," she answered. For a younger woman, she spoke as if she had military experience, and the stare from her eyes felt like they were going to cut right through the iron grating and into Alan's heart as their yes briefly met. Alan looked away, unable to maintain eye contact with her.

"Wait," Hunter spoke up, softly. "The Testificate village...? That was you guys?" Hunter's voice was barely able to hide the rage under her breath.

"But of course," Jericho admitted. "For they would not convert." Jericho stepped aside and starting slowly pacing back and forth as he elaborated. "The Testificates were a stubborn people set in their ways. They rejected the teachings of our lord for their trade and their emeralds." Jericho spat on the ground, clearly disgusted. "That, my friends, is sin. Sin can only be purged from this world by the sharp edge of a sword. Afterwards, we burned their bodies as well as their material possessions. They wouldn't be needing them anymore." He stopped pacing and turned back towards Hunter. "Do you understand?"

Hunter's knuckles were white from the grip of his fist. Had the iron gate not been there, he would have beaten Jericho to a bloody pulp right then and there.

"You killed the Testificates –my _friends_ – over a fucking religion?!"

Jericho sighed and rubbed his forehead. He looked as if he were trying to explain something to a child that wouldn't listen.

"Watch your tongue, knave!" Amelia shouted out, taking a step forward and unsheathing her longsword. She took clear offense to Hunter's tone. Jericho caught her by the arm and stopped her, causing her to return to formation, albeit with her sword now drawn.

"Not just any religion, Hunter. _The_ religion," Jericho explained, his voice full of a fire and fervor that he originally did not have. "The religion that will end the mob invasion. The religion that will bring peace to all of its followers. All you have to do... is convert," Jericho exclaimed, holding a fist high above his head for emphasis. "What do you say, Hunter? Open your gates now, and allow yourself to be converted. Join us. Join _La Sainte Armee des Calamars_ and we promise that you shall not be harmed. We will teach you our ways, and we will join our forces together for our lord. Otherwise..." Jericho slowly held his sword up and pointed it towards Hunter behind the gate. "We will be forced to purge you from this world," his voice hissed menacingly as his eyes narrowed.

For a long time, Hunter was quiet. Alan wondered if it was at all possible that Hunter was actually considering Jericho's proposal with the amount of time it was taking him to respond. Jericho clearly had them outnumbered in terms of men. Sure, they had the wall, but Jericho spoke as if it wouldn't be any hindrance at all to them. It was true that a few well placed detonations of TNT could get rid of the gate. Jericho also promised that they wouldn't be harmed if they joined them, but maybe that was just a ruse for them to let their guard down? Alan looked over at his companion's expressions. Daren looked hardened, ready for a fight. George and Frederick appeared terrified, and Alan couldn't blame them; he was scared too. Zeke looked like he could go either way. His body looked tensed up and ready for battle, but his face was covered in sweat. He was nervous. It was only then that Alan realized that someone was still missing.

Where was Lana?

"We're going to need an answer, friend," Jericho asked impatiently, his sword still pointed toward Hunter.

Hunter looked behind him, looking toward Daren for some sort of answer. Their eyes met, and they stared for a while. Finally, Daren shook his head, not wanting anything to do with Jericho or his army. This seemed to be the answer Hunter was hoping for. He turned back toward Jericho stared him down.

"I am going to kill you," Hunter spoke loudly enough for every one of Jericho's soldiers to hear. "You're all going to die. Right here, right now."

Jericho's face slowly started to turn red in anger at this, as the veins began to bulge out of his temples. He turned toward Liam and whispered something in his ear. Liam nodded and immediately started jogging to the back of the formation of soldiers lined up at the tree-line.

"Amelia!" He barked as he turned toward his army. "Ready the TNT charges. I want this gate open now! Slit their throats and burn their bodies! Make sure no one leaves here alive!" He turned back towards the gate and pointed at Hunter. "Bring me his head!"

"Hunter!" Daren quickly grabbed Hunter by the shoulder and practically yelled into his ear. "We need to find a defensible position! They're going to-"

"GUYS!"

Alan turned behind him to see Lana running out of Hunter's house waving her arms frantically.

"GET AWAY FROM THE GATE!" she screamed.

Before Alan or the others had the time to respond, they were met with the explosive force from the shockwave of about 200 sticks of TNT dynamite.

 **KA** - _ **BOOM! CRAAAAAASH!  
** **  
**_Alan, Hunter, Frederick, George, and Daren were all thrown back several feet away from the gate by an enormous explosion that rocked the very foundation of Hunter's Watch.

Alan writhed on the ground in pain holding his chest as his ears rang. His eyes were shut tightly and he was almost certain that he was now deaf. The explosion was large enough to feel as if he was just slammed into the chest by a racehorse traveling full speed. How he wasn't dead, he didn't know. Eventually, the ringing subsided and he was able to start to pick up bits and pieces of sound.

A horse's whinny. Window panes falling to the ground and shattering. Screams. Blood curdling screams coming from the other side of the gate where Jericho and his religious army was.

He opened his eyes to see that Hunter's Watch was covered in a heavy sheet of smoke and dust. He could barely see anything. Wincing, he raised himself up from the ground and was miraculously able to get to his feet.

"Alan!" Lana run over to him, desperation in her voice. "Are you okay?!" She placed her hand on his shoulder to check and see if he was alright.

"L-Lana... What happened?" Alan tried to take a step forward but immediately had to stop due to the pain in his stomach.

"I'll explain later! Are you hurt?" Lana was genuinely concerned about her new-found friend. They may have started out on the wrong foot, but Alan more than proved that he was a good person last night at the pier. She didn't want to lose him, or any of her other friends. Not even Frederick.

Alan opened his mouth to say respond to Lana's question, but once again the pain stopped him. The smell of freshly detonated explosives and ashes filled his nostrils as he looked up through the smoke to see if any of his friends had also survived.

Daren seemed to be fairing the best of them, standing on his feet with little apparent difficulty as he stared into the smoke outside the gate. George, Frederick, and Zeke seemed to be fairing worse, though, as they were barely able to stand up to their feet. Alan could tell that they were very hurt. He had seen what explosives could do to a person before. Even if you weren't caught in the blast, the force from the shock waves alone could be enough to break bones and collapse your lungs.

"We... have to help them..." he wheezed out as he looked up at Lana. She smiled at Alan's thought of putting the others first above himself and nodded in agreement. She slung Alan's arm over her neck for him to lean on as they started to walk toward the others.

 _ **CREEEEAAAK!**_

The sound of iron bending in on itself pierced the air as Alan quickly looked up toward the gate.

"No..." he whispered in disbelief.

Slowly but surely, the iron gate's hinges slowly broke out of place from the stone wall, the force of the explosion way too much for them to bear. The iron gate fell backwards towards them, clearly twisted in ward from the explosion, as it landed on the ground kicking up even more dust into the air with a thundering _crash!_

Alan and Lana both looked on in horror, helpless to stop it. The gate was down. Hunter's Watch was effectively defenseless.

* * *

 ** _Next Chapter: Jericho (Pt.2)_**

* * *

 _ **A/N: Okay, so, this chapter was so large, that I actually decided to split it into two parts. If I didn't, it would just be a very unnecessarily long chapter, and I didn't want that. BUT, I already have Jericho (Pt. 2) written, I just need to do some quick editing and proofreading for typos, and it will be posted within the next 24 hours, that's a promise! (Unless something seriously drastic happens to me) :D Enjoy!**_


	10. Book 1, Chapter 9: Jericho (Pt 2)

_**Book 1: The Mob Invasion  
Chapter 9: Jericho (Pt. 2)**_

 ** _Days Since the Mob Invasion: 748_**

* * *

 ** _Earlier_**

"Shit, shit, shit!"

Lana searched through the mines frantically as her breathing became more and more rapid. They were right outside the gate, and they had Hunter's Watch surrounded and outnumbered. She thought back to what Hunter had whispered in her ear before he sent her away from the gate.

 _"Rinoa hid chests full of TNT dynamite in the mines... find it, and set it off."_

Long before the mob invasion, when Hunter's Watch was still being used as a fishing village, the fishermen had miners come in to mine for resources to use for their ships. The resources were mostly coal and iron. Hunter's house stood on top of the entrance to that mine, and it was the only way in or out. After Rinoa, Lana, and Sofie moved into Hunter's Watch, Rinoa spent much of her time down in the mines spelunking. She crafted her own special mix of TNT that she called "TNT dynamite." It was more powerful than standard TNT, and was also safer as it was less prone to accidentally misfiring.

The mines were mostly narrow and dark. One misstep could result in a sprained ankle, or worse. The few redstone torches that did line the wall barely provided enough light. They originally had a Nether portal located in the mines, but George got rid of it after Rinoa was banished just in case she were to try and use it as a portal back to Hunter's Watch.

Finally, after searching for what felt like forever, Lana finally found a chest on the side of a wall. "This has to be it!" Lana opened up the chest as she slightly recoiled at the contents within. "What the hell, Rin?" she said in disbelief. There had to be well over 200 sticks of TNT dynamite alone in that chest, way more than most people would ever need. On top of the pile was a large twine of redstone fuse coiled around itself.

 _Perfect,_ Lana thought as she cut a long strip of fuse off from the coil and tied it to one of the sticks of TNT dynamite. This was gonna be nasty.

For a split second, she hesitated. She looked up above her at the stone ceiling. The explosion would cause the mines to collapse, which means any ground above her was likely to get decimated by the blast. This was probably going to kill people... But it was either Jericho or them.

Using a redstone torch, she sparked the fuse and quickly ran toward the exit to the mines. She only hoped she could warn Hunter and the others in time.

* * *

 _ **Now**_

" _Merde_ ," Amelia cursed under her breath as she picked herself up from the gravel. She had been knocked backwards to the treeline where most of their soldiers had been. Scanning the terrain in front of her, she saw that they had taken multiple casualties. At least seven of their men had been ripped to shreds by the blast. All of their horses were either killed, or were scared off by the deafening sound of the explosion. Wails and groans echoed into the dusty air from her men as those that were lucky enough to survive started to feel the pain from their wounds. Amelia herself considered herself blessed that she still had both legs and both arms.

"Dammit!" she cursed. "What the hell happened?!"

As Amelia watched the survivors slowly start to pick themselves up from the gravel, her eyes quickly searched for Jericho's trademark golden armour. Surely their lord wouldn't allow his messenger to die like this? After frantically pacing around the area looking for Jericho through the smoke, she finally saw a piece of golden medal sticking out of the crater.

"Jericho!" she cried out as she shimmied down the side of the crater. It was a large hole, at least six feet deep and a dozen more feet wide. Reaching Jericho, she grabbed him by his arm and pulled him up. With much strain on both of their parts, they were able to get him to his feet. "Can you stand?" she asked, concern heightened in her voice.

"The gate... is open," Jericho struggled to let out. He was covered in dust, and his face was caked in blood.

"What?" Amelia asked, not sure what he meant.

"The gate was blown open in the explosion. If we attack now, we can overrun them." He looked up toward the entrance to Hunter's View. His eyes were bloodshot and wild as blood ran down his face, dripping off of his chin.

Amelia shook her head in disbelief as she let Jericho lean on her. He was clearly injured.

" _Monsieur_ , we need to pull out of here, quickly. We've sustained heavy losses and our men are gravely wounded; including yourself!" Amelia reasoned desperately. An offensive move at this point would be nothing short of suicide! They had to retreat, regroup, and engage at another time after they had recovered.

Deep down inside, Jericho new what Amelia was speaking was the truth... But something deep inside him burned.

" _You're all going to die. Right here, right now."_

Hunter's words echoed in his mind as he surveyed his remaining men. Now standing, most of them looked to be in poor shape. Many of them had blood splattered all over their bodies, and that's not to mention the internal injuries. Still, the more he thought about Hunter's threat, the rage inside him began to fester.

As the smoke and dust began to settle, the view of the broken gate was now visible to everyone through the thin layer of smoke. Jericho's men looked toward him, waiting for orders.

"Amelia!" Jericho barked, "Take whoever you need and storm that gate! I want them all dead for what they've done, understand?!"

"But, _monsieur_!" Amelia objected. Jericho quickly twisted around and grabbed her forcefully by the throat.

"That is the will of our lord, Amelia, and you will obey our lord before I cut you down and do it myself!" Jericho's grip on her throat loosened as Amelia dropped to her knees, choking in oxygen. "Do you understand now?" The malice was clear in his voice as he yelled at her. Eventually, she was able to recover from this as she stood up, her face stern and obedient, as if nothing had happened.

"Yes, _monsieur_!" Amelia replied with a formal military salute.

"I'm going to go find Liam. We'll send reinforcements behind you. Now go." Jericho ordered as he turned his back and slithered away out of the crater and toward the treeline.

After Jericho had turned his back, Amelia sighed heavily and shook her head.

"Anything for you, _monsieur_ ," she muttered to herself, slightly derisively. Struggling, she pulled herself out of the crater and turned toward her men that were hiding away from the gate near the treeline.

"Amelia, we should retreat!" one of the younger survivors, Emile, spoke out. He was holding his left arm and blood appeared to be flowing out of it freely.

"No, Emile, we will not be retreating today. _La Sainte Armee des Calamars_ never retreats!" she held her sword up high above her head. "We're going to take this community, and we're going to do it with our lord's blessing!" Amelia bellowed, trying to rile up her troop's seriously damaged morale. "We still have the advantage of numbers, and Jericho and I still live. Not all is lost, my friends. The path of the virtuous one is not for the feint of heart, and our lord sometimes demands a high price to follow in his service. But as his disciples, we owe it to our lord to take this settlement and purge its inhabitants! For our lord! For your leader! For your brothers! Who is with me?!"

Amelia's speech was fiery, and perhaps one of the more inspirational ones that she had given. Still, even after that, only three out of the remaining eight stepped forward. Predictable, Amelia figured. The three that stepped forward really only seemed to be the ones that didn't sustain massive damage, but it still wasn't enough to take the community. She looked over the survivors and noticed how bad Emile's arm was bleeding.

"Emile, you're coming with us," Amelia ordered, pointing Emile out in the line. Emile was shocked.

"B-but commander... my arm."

"It's not your fighting arm, Emile, and we need you. That's an order." Amelia hated doing this to her men, but the truth was that at the rate that Emile's arm was bleeding, even if they did retreat Emile was likely to die from blood loss before they reached their camp in time to stop the bleeding.

Better to get some use out of him before then.

"Alright," Amelia patted Emile on the back as he stepped in line with her and the other attackers. "The rest of you meet up with Jericho and Liam and wait for them to lead the second offensive wave."

There was a brief "Aye," from the soldiers as they abruptly turned and limped as fast as they could away from Amelia before they were also recruited for her suicide mission.

Amelia turned to the men left with her. The five of them, herself included, should be enough to take a community of worthless unbelievers.

"On my signal, men!" she commanded as she turned back toward the broken gate. From the treeline it looked so far away, but she knew once they rushed in, no matter what, there was no going back. She grit her teeth and held up her sword.

" **CHARGE**!"

* * *

Standing behind the collapsed gate, Daren heard the order to charge issued out by Amelia and sighed. _So they plan to storm the gates after all?_ He looked behind him and saw that George and Frederick were out of action. Lana was tending to their wounds as best she could, but they weren't in fighting condition. Zeke and Alan, however, seemed to be fairing better. And Hunter? Daren hadn't seen him since the explosion.

"Lana!" Daren called out to her quickly. "Take George and Frederick into the community center! Close and lock the door behind you! Go, quickly!" The smoke was settling, and Daren could see that there was a group of Jericho's soldiers led by Amelia heading straight there way.

Leaning on Lana, George let out a series of coughs as she carried him into the community center with Frederick following close behind them. Soon as they made it inside, Lana slammed the door shut behind them.

With that, it was only Daren, Zeke, and Alan left out in the open.

Alan had his sword out, but knew he was no good in a fight. Even after the mob invasion, he had never had to fight somebody else before. He was a healer. An alchemist. His place wasn't on the battlefield, yet here he was.

"Dammit!" he cursed out, as he limped forward. He was slightly behind Daren, with Zeke standing closer to the gate near the side of the entrance. He knew there was a good chance that he could die today. He just tried not to think about it.

"Here they come!" Daren called out as Amelia and her men neared the entrance. Daren's eyes closed for a split second as he concentrated. He had been in this situation more times than he cared to count. He was ready.

But so was Amelia.

In a single file line, Amelia and her men charged through the hole in the Hunter's Watch defense, making it past the walls.

"Spread out and attack!" Amelia ordered as her men complied. Two of her soldiers split off and immediately engaged in contact with Zeke, one more split off and made his way toward Alan, while Amelia and the only soldier left charged straight toward Daren.

It didn't take long for the clashing of steel and shouts to start.

Zeke scoffed and thought how the two men standing in front of him looked barely old enough to hold a sword, much less use it. Then again, maybe that was just his old age talking.

"Die, non-believer!" one of them yelled as they lunged forward to stab Zeke's stomach.

Big mistake.

Zeke grinned devilishly as he swung his large claymore to the side, catching the man in the ribs before he could even get within striking distance. The blow wasn't fatal, but it was enough to knock the man off his feet as he fell to the ground, gasping in pain. The other man paused for a brief second and looked up at Zeke's enormous size that he wasn't able to fully take in until just now. Zeke grinned at this, showing off his pearly white teeth underneath his large beard.

"You're next, puny boy," Zeke laughed heartily as he swung his claymore at the man who was barely able to block the blow with his shield.

* * *

Meanwhile, Alan was standing face-to-face with his own opponent: a young man, probably about Alan's age. He was holding a longsword in his right hand, and Alan noticed that his left arm was hanging limp at his side and bleeding very heavily. It appeared to be a life-threatening wound if not treated immediately.

Alan held his sword in his two hands in a defensive position, ready for his opponent to make the first move. Surprisingly, he didn't. Alan looked up at the man's face and saw something that he wasn't expecting: fear.

 _This man is afraid of me?_ Alan thought as he stared into the eyes of the person in front of him. _Is that what_ _ **I**_ _look like right now?_

A scream of pain coming from Zeke's direction pierced the air, causing Alan's foe to flinch at the sound of it. Alan deduced that Zeke had just killed one of the attackers.

"Emile!" Alan heard Amelia yell from Daren's location. "Don't just stand there, kill him!" she screamed. Emile sighed regretfully and nodded.

"Sorry, _monsieur,_ " Emile finally spoke. "But I cannot stand by and watch my brothers die. Forgive me," and with that he steeled himself and prepared to fight.

Alan opened his mouth to protest this, but was cut off by Emile's blade making contact with his own.

The blow was hard as the steel sparked from the friction. Alan stumbled back slightly, taken off guard by how it felt. Emile, not giving Alan anytime to recuperate, swung again. The blow this time glanced off Alan's leather chestpiece, causing Alan to fall backwards to the ground in pain. His chest was still sore from the explosion, and he was pretty sure that the blow from Emile's blade just broke one of his ribs.

As Alan laid on his back, he knew that if he didn't do something quick, he would surely die. Suddenly, he felt a burst of adrenaline rush through his veins. As Emile stood over him to deliver the finishing blow, Alan quickly kicked the man in the kneecap almost like it was instinct. Emile screamed as his leg bent in on itself. He dropped his sword as he crouched over to hold his knee.

"Argh! You bastar- _**Ack**_!" Emile was interrupted by an unfamiliar pressure in his chest. He looked down to see Alan's longsword stabbing him directly through the sternum. Blood was dripping down the blade uninhibited, and he immediately knew that his his opponent had hit his heart. Shakily, he looked over to the eyes of his adversary.

A young man, probably about his age. His sword was in his right hand, and he was using his left hand to prop himself up from the ground. But when Emile looked down into the man's face, he saw the one thing he didn't expect: fear.

 _This man... is afraid... of me?_

Lightheaded from blood loss, Emile's legs gave out on him as he collapsed to the ground, falling hard on his side. He was dead.

Alan gasped out in shock at what he had just done. Still on the ground, his panting escalated until he felt like he was about to throw up.

"I just... I just killed someone," he quietly whispered to himself. He looked up and saw Daren and Zeke were still fighting their own opponents. He could go over and help them, but...

He looked back over at Emile's lifeless body, his sword still sticking through his chest.

 _I did that,_ Alan's thoughts plagued him. He felt a tight knot start to form in his stomach as he slowly crawled backwards away from the body. _I killed someone..._

* * *

Near the entrance of Hunter's Watch, Daren was managing to take on Amelia and another soldier by himself.

"Now!" Amelia ordered as her and her soldier both coordinated their strike at the same time.

Daren smirked as he flipped his spear around 360 degrees, the blunt end of the spear smacking Amelia's hand away before she could strike, and the tip of the spear striking the other soldier's sword down, knocking it out of his hand into the ground.

"Shit!" the soldier exclaimed as he quickly went to retrieve it.

Daren predicted this and readied to stab the the soldier while he was disarmed, but a flash of Amelia's blade coming toward him caused him to readjust, as he used his spear to block Amelia's strike instead. Unfortunately, this gave Amelia's companion time enough to pick up his weapon, and now he too was aiming to stab Daren.

 _This is not good,_ Daren thought to himself.

The soldier stood up and raised his sword to end Daren's life when all of a sudden, he stopped. His eyes opened wide as he turned around behind him. Daren was shocked to see an arrow sticking out of the back of the man's neck as he fell over to the ground, dead.

"What?!" Amelia shouted incredulously at the sudden death of her soldier. Even Daren wasn't expecting it.

"Hey, lady! Didn't anyone ever teach you that two-on-one isn't fair?" A shout from the roof of the community center caused both Daren and Amelia to look up toward it. Standing on top of the community center, alive and in one piece, was Hunter. He let out a small laugh and brandished his bow and arrow.

"You bastard!" Amelia spat out furiously after realizing that she no longer had the upper hand. Daren, seeing that she was distracted, pushed her back with the shaft of his spear until she was about one spear's length away from him. Just the way he wanted it.

"Hunter, over here!" Zeke called out to the roof as he held off an attacking soldier with his claymore. He had already killed one of them, but this one was proving to be a challenge.

Hunter smiled at this and happily obliged. He pulled an arrow out of his quiver, aimed, and fired. The shot hit his mark, catching the aggressive soldier in the temple of his head, killing him instantly. Letting out a sigh of relief, Zeke looked up toward Hunter and thanked him.

"Happy to help!" Hunter responded, giving a thumbs up. Lana, George, and Frederick also appeared on the rooftop overlooking the scene beneath them as they stood beside Hunter and surveyed the damage below. So much blood spilled, but thankfully none of their own.

Which meant Amelia was now alone.

Amelia looked around and saw her men dead before her. Daren had momentarily stopped fighting her as she took the scene in. All of her men were dead, only she was left. Just like that, she was heavily outnumbered.

"Dammit." She gritted her teeth as the weight of her loss sank in. She looked up at Daren whose spear was still aimed directly at her throat.

"You lose, Amelia," Daren pointed out. Out of the corner of Amelia's eye, she saw Zeke start to walk over to her, his claymore caked in the blood of her fellow soldiers. She smirked and let out a dry laugh at this.

"When the second wave gets here, you're all _fucked._ " The rage in her voice was near palpable as she stared at Daren with her blue, ice-cold eyes.

Daren thought of this for a second, then called up to Hunter.

"Hunter! Do you see anymore of them outside the gate? Any reinforcements?"

Hunter used his hand as a visor as he looked out over the wall. A few seconds later, he called back down to Daren.

"I see a few dead bodies, but it looks like the rest retreated!"

Amelia looked at Hunter in disbelief. She spun around quickly to see outside the gate behind here. Surely the non-believer was just lying. As she looked toward the treeline, she waited for Jericho to emerge from the forest with the second wave to save her. She waited.

But he never came.

"Your commander, Jericho? He used you," Daren stated, matter-of-factly. "Your men were badly hurt, so Jericho used you as a diversion until him and the others could escape without us chasing after you. He was never going to come back for you. He left you to die."

Daren had seen the same tactic used by commanders during the Edgelands Rebellion. Soldiers would fight until their dying breath waiting for reinforcements while the 'reinforcements' were busy making a quick getaway. Although he hated Amelia for what she had done, he couldn't help but feel slightly bad for her. The look of betrayal on her face spoke volumes.

"You liar..." Amelia whispered, shaking in anger as tears started to form in her eyes. "You don't... you don't know!" she spat out. "You're all unbelievers! All of you!" She yelled, pointing them all out. "If you had just converted, none of this would have ever happened!"

Hunter shouted out from the rooftops, "You can't force a religion on somebody, lady. That's not how it works."

Amelia looked back up to him and scoffed. "Don't be so short-sighted! We're trying to save the world, you fool! From the mobs! From sin! From death itself! Some sacrifices must be needed, that is the way our lord commands it."

Hunter shook his head in disbelief and looked over at Lana, Frederick, and George who all seemed to be having the same thoughts as him: _This woman is seriously crazy._

"Who is your lord?" a voice from behind spoke up. Daren turned around to see Alan walking over to them all. He had blood stains on his hands and chest. His eyes were bloodshot, and it looked like he had been crying.

Daren looked concerned. "Alan, are you-"

"Who is your lord?!" Alan shouted as tears streamed down his face. "Does he really want this?!" Alan stepped to the side and pointed to Emile's corpse laying in a pool of his own blood in the middle of the street, sword still embedded in his chest..

Everybody was silent as Amelia looked down at the ground, not daring to look at Emile's body. Finally, she looked back up at Alan.

"I'd sacrifice a lot more if it meant an end to the mob invasion." She was firm in her beliefs, and she knew she was right. She didn't expect the non-believers to understand, but this truly was the only way. "As for my lord," she continued, "I'm sure you'll all meet him soon enough. And when you do, you will be burned by the sins of your life," she shook her head in pity. "You're all going to experience unimaginable loss real soon."

Everybody stared at her for awhile. They weren't quite sure what to make of her. She spoke as if she genuinely thought what she was doing was for the best. And that's the most dangerous type of person that there can be.

Alan shook his head at her, not buying it. "You're beyond saving," he spat. He looked over at Daren, and nodded. Daren understood the intent as he readied his spear. Amelia knew what was about to happen, but she didn't stop it.

"I'm not the one that needs saving, _monsieur,_ " she closed her eyes and dropped her sword to the ground. She extended her arms out to her side in a T-formation and let out a deep sigh. "Strike true, Impaler," she addressed Daren by his nickname. "You always have before, no?" she asked, accepting of her fate.

Even though she couldn't see it, Daren nodded as he positioned his spear for the strike. After a brief moment of hesitation, he lunged forward, the tip of his spear piercing through her chest. The chainmail broke from the impact as the spear plunged deep into her chest cavity. Using all his strength, Daren gave one final thrust as the tip of his spear made its way through her chest and poked out her back. She had been completely impaled all the way through. It was a quick death, her heart getting pierced with the first initial thrust, and Amelia's limp body fell to the ground with Daren's spear still sticking out of her. Placing his foot on her to stop her body from sticking to the spear, Daren quickly yanked the spear out of Amelia as a splatter of blood came out with it, staining Daren's armour.

There was a moment of silence as everyone started to process what had just happened. Finally, after a good minute of everyone just standing there, George spoke up from the rooftop.

"We... we won," he said, nearly unable to believe it himself. "We... really won!" He said it again, this time the realization of victory clear to him as he smiled. "We did it! We're alive!"

Everyone let out a celebratory victory cry as Lana, George, and Hunter huddled up around each other, jumping up and down for joy. Frederick, still hurt from the explosion, just quietly sat down and smiled up at the heavens, thankful to be alive for another day. Zeke walked over to Daren and gave him a firm slap on the back for a job well done, which Daren returned with one of his rare smiles. Everybody was celebrating...

Except for Alan.

Daren looked behind him and noticed Alan just standing in the middle of the street, looking down at the ground.

"Hey, Alan," Daren walked over to him. "You alright?" he placed his hand on his shoulder.

It took Alan a second, but he nodded and looked up to Daren. "It's just... I've never killed anyone before. Only ever mobs. It's still sinking in, I guess," Alan admitted. Although he still felt sick to his stomach, it was nice admitting it out loud to someone like Daren. Made him feel better, if just a little bit.

Daren nodded, understanding. "I remember my first kill. It's not easy, I know," he reassured. "But, trust me, in a life or death situation, it doesn't matter who it is trying to kill you. That soldier there would have killed you just as surely as a zombie or creeper would. You have to kill mobs to protect yourself, and you had to kill him to protect yourself. At the end of the day, there really is no difference. Not anymore."

Alan heard what Daren was saying, and even understood it, but as of right now he really didn't even want to think about it. Daren sighed.

"There's nothing that I can say to make you feel better, Alan. The first kill is always the hardest. It's going to take time for you to get past this, but you will... And if you ever need to talk, I'm here for you, okay?" he looked into Alan's eyes hoping to find a shred of optimism in there somewhere. The first kill can make or break a soldier depending on their mentality after the kill. Daren knew that more than anyone.

Finally, Alan gave a small smile and Daren saw it: a glimpse of hope, even just for a split second. Alan was going to be okay.

"Thanks, Daren," Alan smiled, thankful to have a friend like Daren to help him out. Daren returned the smile with his own, and then turned to everybody else who was still celebrating.

"Alright, listen everyone!" he yelled to get everyone's attention. The battle is over, but we still have work to do! Alan, go get us all some potions of regeneration and potions of healing for our wounds. George, after Alan patches you up, start fixing that gate soon as possible! The explosion no doubt was heard by every zombie and creeper within a two mile radius, so they'll likely be coming our way shortly. Hunter, Zeke, Lana, and I will start cleaning up these bodies and get them out of here before they start to rot. We'll figure something out to do with them. Frederick, stay up there and keep an eye out for any mobs or if Jericho returns, alright?"

Daren gave out orders like a commanding officer. For a second, Alan wondered why Frederick was even in charge of Hunter's Watch.

"Everybody get all that?" Daren asked.

"Aye!" everyone responded as they quickly got to work with their assigned duties.

Daren smiled as he looked over to the walls of Hunter's Watch. Damaged, but still standing, Hunter's Watch, and everyone in it, lived to see another day.

* * *

After Alan patched up everybody's wounds with some potions, Lana and Hunter explained exactly what happened with their plan involving the mines and the TNT dynamite to everyone. Frederick, of course, was upset by it, claiming that they nearly killed them all as well in the explosion, but Daren quickly shut him down by pointing out that Jericho would have killed them all anyway had it not been for Lana and Hunter's quick thinking. After that, everyone got busy working on their assigned duties.

George recruited Alan's help to assist him with repairing the gate, even though Alan had no knowledge whatsoever with metalworking. Mostly, George just used Alan to pick up the heavy stuff while he hammered everything back in to shape and nailed the gate hinges back into the stone wall.

Meanwhile, Zeke, Hunter, and Daren were busy moving bodies out of Hunter's Watch and into the forest. They had lined them all up in a row in the forest and planned on cremating them, which was a common practice among warring factions in Northern Minecraftia. Mass graves were more common in Southern Minecraftia, but since they lacked the men to dig a giant grave for Jericho's men, and since Daren and a majority of Jericho's men were Northerners anyway, Daren opted for the cremation choice instead.

While Daren, Hunter, and Zeke were busy carrying and cremating the bodies, Lana was tasked with looting the dead bodies for anything useful that they could use. Whenever she would loot a body of anything worth taking, she'd hand it off to Daren and the others for cremation. The most obvious thing she was looking for was salvageable weapons and armour that wasn't too damaged, but a few of them had other supplies too. One had a pouch of redstone dust in his satchel that Alan could use for his alchemy. Another had some old books on him that she was sure Frederick and George would enjoy. She tried not to take any items that seemed like they had sentimental value to the person, like any rings or pendants. She didn't like looting the bodies at all, but this was survival. Do _whatever_ it takes to stay alive.

On the roof of the community center, Frederick kept a steady watch out over the horizon, frequently checking the treeline for any activity. Like Daren said, a few zombies and creepers showed up from all of the noise from the explosion, but they were quickly disposed of. After what they just went through, dealing with a few mobs was almost a relief.

It took them all day, but eventually by nightfall they had repaired a majority of the damage to the gate, and had also cleaned out all of the bodies and had them cremated in a large clearing in the forest. Lana brought all of the loot she had collected inside to the community center for storage until they could figure out who gets what.

Frederick, pleased with the productivity, came back down to congratulate everyone who had gathered in the middle of the street outside of the community center after a day of hard work.

"Well, guys, what can I say? Excellent work today all around," he smiled, proud of what his people had accomplished. "I think we all deserve some rest after that, don't you?"

"I don't know how I could even sleep," George admitted, rubbing his sore shoulders. "What if they come back tonight?" His question was a serious one that most people in the group also felt. Frederick waved his hand dismissively.

"Oh, they wouldn't be so bold as to try," Frederick boasted. "We gave them a crippling defeat here today. They may be a bunch of religious nutcases, but even they would know better."

"Actually," Hunter stepped forward to speak, much to Frederick's chagrin. "I was hoping if I could try and track them tonight. Maybe try and see where their camp is or if they're close enough for us to be worried," he admitted.

"What?!" Frederick scoffed. "Are you serious? Why would _anyone_ want to go out those gates after what just happened today?!"

Lana nodded, agreeing with Frederick for once. "He's got a point, Hunter," she said. "It's too dangerous."

"Still, we got to make sure they aren't in the immediate area anymore to be a threat to us," Hunter argued as he looked over at Lana. "If they're planning a sneak attack, I should be able to tell or not."

"Hunter has a point," Daren chimed in. "Strategically, it makes sense to at least know the general location of your enemy at all times. They know where we are, it would be advantageous for us to know the same about them." Daren looked over to Hunter and nodded in approval.

Frederick sighed, "Well, we can't just send Hunter out there alone without any support, and we can't risk sending anyone from the night watch, so it's just gonna have to-"

"I can go," Alan said, butting into the conversation for the first time.

Hunter was shocked but also impressed at Alan stepping up the challenge. Alan had barely said anything all day since he killed that one soldier, so it was nice to see him snap out of his catatonic state.

"Alan, are you sure?" Hunter asked, still shocked but also appreciative of the help. Alan nodded.

"I just want to help... and I don't really think I'm going to be getting any sleep tonight anyway. So, yeah, I'm sure." Alan was telling the truth. Every time he closed his eyes, all he could see was Emile standing over him bleeding out with his sword in his chest. If Alan got any sleep at all for the next week he'd be surprised.

Hunter looked at Frederick victoriously, clearly pleased with the recent turn in events. "Well, Freddy, got anymore excuses?" he asked sarcastically.

Daren watched Alan, slightly worried. He didn't want Alan to go with Hunter right now with the state of mind he was in, but he knew he couldn't stop him, so he held his tongue.

Lana, too, seemed worried by all this, shifting uneasily at the thought of even stepping foot outside the gate, much less trying to track down the people that literally just tried to kill you.

Sighing, Frederick shrugged clearly defeated. "Fine, Hunter, you and Alan can go, but both of you should be back before daybreak. If not, we'll assume the worst."

"Sure thing, mom," Hunter joked, much to Frederick's annoyance.

"Oh!" Lana's head shot up as she was reminded of something. "If you're heading out, Hunter, don't forget your compass so you can find your way back easily," she reminded.

Hunter's face immediately dropped.

"Oh, yeah, uh..." he stammered, trying to think of something on the spot.

"Hunter?" Lana noticed Hunter's unusual reaction to her comment. "Is something wrong?"

"No! I just, um... Can't we just use Alan's compass?" Hunter asked as he started to sweat a bit in the chill of night.

"I never got a compass," Alan shrugged. He figured he hadn't been there long enough and Lana had been too busy to make one for him yet.

"Hunter," Lana's voice was serious this time. "You do still have your compass, right?" she asked.

Hunter looked around the group, desperately trying to find support in anyone's face, but why would he find support? None of them knew what he knew.

"Hunter, did you lose your compass?" Frederick asked.

"I..." Hunter started but didn't finish. He knew he had to think of something fast.

"You lost it, didn't you?!" Lana accused. She couldn't believe Hunter had lost his compass that she had worked so hard to make for him. She rubbed her head in frustration, clearly annoyed. "Well, when did you lose it Hunter?"

"About... about a week ago," Hunter looked down as he confessed.

"A week?!"

"Look, I didn't-"

"Why are you just now telling us about this, Hunter?" Frederick asked with his hands on his hips, clearly displeased.

Hunter took a deep breath in as he felt his hand start to shake again. He wasn't sure if it was from withdrawals, or from nervousness. He gulped, clearly frightened. Maybe it was time to come clean. They all had to find out sooner or later anyway, no matter how much Hunter wished the problem would just disappear.

"Hunter?" Lana asked, this time more concerned than accusatory. Hunter looked up at here, regret filling his eyes under the moonlight.

"Lana, I'm so sorry..." he started.

"What's wrong, Hunter?" she asked, genuinely worried now.

Hunter looked up at all of them. George, Lana, Daren, Alan, Frederick, Zeke... all waiting for his answer.

"I don't have my compass... because Rinoa has it," he finally admitted, as he felt a huge weight lift off his shoulders only for an even bigger weight to be thrown back on. He looked over at Lana and saw her eyes and mouth aghast, unwilling to believe what she just heard.

"You... you what?" she whispered barely loud enough for Hunter to hear.

"Rinoa has my compass," Hunter repeated for everyone to hear. "Which means she knows how to make her way back here." He looked over at everyone in the group, and they all had the same expression. Shock. Nobody said anything because nobody could say anything. "I'm sorry," he finished as he stared at the ground, ashamed.

Everyone looked over at each other, not sure what to say or do. If Rinoa had Hunter's compass, then there was no doubt in anyone's mind that she was going to come back for one thing, and one thing only:

 _Revenge._

* * *

 _ **Next Chapter: Recollections**_

* * *

 _ **A/N: Well, here you are! Part 2, just like I promised. And within the 24 hour time-frame, too!... give or take a couple of hours. ;P Have any suggestions or critique? Feel free to leave a review or send me a PM. All constructive criticism is highly appreciated. Thanks!**  
_


	11. Book 1, Chapter 10: Recollections

_**A/N: Usually I put my author's notes at the end of the chapter, but I just wanted to thank each and every one of you for helping me get 1,000+ views on this story as of last chapter. It means a lot to me, and I just wanted you all to know how much I appreciate it. Thank you. ;)  
**_

* * *

 _ **Book 1: The Mob Invasion**_  
 _ **Chapter 10: Recollections**_

 _ **Days Since the Mob Invasion: 749**_

* * *

The Capitol City.

Originally built by the first settlers of Minecraftia hundreds of years ago, the Capitol has gone through many changes since its first construction. As various warlords and barons fought and died over ownership of the city during the turbulent years of the Baron Wars, each leader added a piece of his own culture and society to the growth of the city. The paved roadways and sewer systems were added by the Baron of the Edgelands during his occupation, the King's Castle was constructed by the King of Monteian over a hundred years ago, the Councilors' Chambers and the Capitol University were added by Grand Chancellor Rodrik of Ravenscroft after taking the city from Monteian, and then finally the city's giant, stone walls were built under the rule Emperor Notch when he took the Capitol City and used it as the center of his expanding empire. This resulted in the Capitol being a very multicultural city, both in construction as well as society, and it became the first true melting pot of diversity in Minecraftia with over 100,000 residents living within the city walls during its peak years.

Looking at it now, though, Zoe felt an intense state of melancholy as she peered over the countryside at the city's current state. The Capitol City was the first to fall the night of the mob-invasion. Only a few hundred survivors made it out, most of them being Imperial military. The rest were either eaten alive by the mobs, trampled to death in the confusion, or burned to death from the city-wide wildfire that spread during the mobs' attack. Zoe shuddered as she remembered the name that a few Capitol survivors had given the city after they escaped.

 _The Scorched City._

Zoe looked over at Rinoa who hadn't taken her eyes off of the city since they first saw it on the horizon. They were a couple of miles away from it now, but even at that distance the city walls and castle were still easily viewable. Rinoa could see the black char marks from the fire along the walls. If she looked hard enough, she could see little specks moving around outside of the city in a small horde. Zombies. The sight of a city that used to fill her with a sense of safety as a child now filled her with dread as she looked at the empty shell of her childhood home. The streets that were once filled with merchants, street performers, fellow students, and happy citizens were now filled with burnt bodies and mobs. The longer Rinoa stared, the bigger the knot in her stomach got.

"Does, uh, this bring back any memories for you, Rin?" Zoe asked in an attempt to strike up conversation as she noticed Rinoa's rather serious demeanor.

Silence was the only response.

* * *

Later that night, the two of them found themselves in an abandoned tobacco barn for shelter. The barn was big enough for them to bring their horse in with them, and the roof over their head was partially collapsed in on itself so they were able to build a fire in the middle of the barn's floor for warmth.

Zoe peered up from stoking the fire and noticed Rinoa staring deep into the flames. She hadn't said anything ever since they saw the Scorched City. In fact, since Rinoa and Zoe's argument the day before, they had barely spoken at all to each other. As they made their way closer and closer to their destination, the only noise they had to keep them company was the gentle thuds of their horse's footsteps during the day.

Rinoa lying about her past was more than enough reason to cause Zoe to be suspicious of who she was traveling with, and Zoe's clear lack of experience with mobs and the world post-mob invasion made it hard for Rinoa to relate to her or even get attached to her. As of right now, they were both hoping that they would soon find a settlement to drop Zoe off and let Rinoa carry on her way alone.

Finally, Zoe realized that enough was enough.

"Rin," she called out. Rinoa didn't respond. "Rinoa, please, just talk to me," she pressed, firmer this time.

"What's there to talk about?" Rinoa didn't even bother to lift her head up. Sitting curled into a ball with her knees tucked under her chin, she looked almost defeated. The spark of determination that was driving her forward to Hunter's Watch was gone. It was as if seeing the Capitol earlier that day had taken more out of her than she was willing to admit. Regardless, Zoe continued on.

"Look, I'm not going to pretend to understand what you've been through. I know that being able to live behind Monteian's walls has sort of... shielded me. I don't think I would have made it this far without you, but..." Zoe hesitated, unsure with how to delicately word this, "...Rin, you've killed someone. The witch accused you of it, and I thought she was just toying with us, but you didn't even try to deny it."

Rinoa sighed as she shook her head. "No point in denying something that's true."

"Still... Look, Rin, I'm thankful for you helping me out these past few days, I really am. But, if we're going to travel like this, I need to trust you. If you would just tell me what happened, maybe I could understand, or at least try." Even though she didn't necessarily trust Rinoa right now, Zoe still considered her a friend. She's the only person she had seen since Monteian fell, and overall she felt like Rinoa really was a good person. But... murder? There had to be some explanation. She wanted a chance to hear Rinoa's side of the story.

Rinoa thought over what Zoe said for a long time as she stared into the flames. For awhile, Zoe thought that that she was just giving her the silent treatment again, but finally Rinoa looked up into Zoe's eyes as the fireplace illuminated both of their faces in the dark.

"Alright then," Rinoa nodded reluctantly. "Let's start from the beginning."

* * *

 _ **Hours Since The Mob Invasion: 2**_

* * *

"We have to go back to get Mom and Dad!"

"The entire city's on fire, Lana! Keep running! Sofie, is your ankle still holding up?"

"I-I think so, Rin!"

"We _have_ go back for Mom and Dad!" Lana repeated, nearly in hysterics as they sprinted away from the city.

"Keep running!" Rinoa firmly instructed.

They were about a mile out from the Capitol, but even from that distance the fires from the city lit up the night sky. Screams pierced the silence as the three sisters were forced to listen to their fellow citizens be burned alive within the city's walls. Along with the screams, small explosions could be heard going off, one right after the other. At first, Rinoa thought that it was TNT. That changed when she witnessed a mother and her two children who were fleeing from the city be blown to pieces by a pack of those horrible, green monsters.

"What the hell are these things?!" Rinoa screamed in clear shock as a mixture of tears and sweat streamed down her face.

She looked around them. They were in the vast countryside that surrounded the city. All around them she could see dark figures running, limping, or crawling. She wasn't sure which were the monsters and which were just people like them. At any rate, she wanted to stay far away from either of them right now.

Rinoa wasn't sure what this attack even was. An surprise-ambush by the Zombie pigmen? Impossible, Notch conquered them all years ago. An invasion from the Edgelands? No, the war was over, the Empire had won. And even then, the Edgelands couldn't possibly pull something like this off. Nobody could.

 _Dammit!_ Rinoa thought to herself. _What the hell is going on?!_

"Wait!" Lana pleaded as she stopped running for a second, nearly keeling over as she took long, exasperated breaths of night air into her lungs. "I can't... I need a minute," she let out in between gasps as sweat dripped down her forehead.

"We got to keep moving, Lana. Those things will kill us!" Rinoa interrupted. She was nearly out of breath too and her lungs felt like they were about to explode, but she knew that a few seconds of rest was a luxury none of them could afford right now.

"And what then, Rin?" a clearly frustrated Lana responded. "Should we just run until one of us passes out? And what about Sofie?! She was nearly trampled to death in there!" Lana was meaning to whisper, but the shock of everything that had transpired mixed with the adrenaline of fighting to stay alive resulted in her screaming at her nearby sister.

"I'm... I'm fine..." Sofie winced out in pain as she hobbled close behind them. Rinoa looked over at her younger sister and immediately knew that Sofie wasn't fine. She had clearly sprained or broke her ankle in the rush out of the city, and her head was busted open when she was trampled under the feet of frantic civilians trying to escape the city's fire and the monsters within. Her light-brown hair was now covered in blood which ran down her face and into her right eye, forcing her to keep it closed. It was a serious injury, but it was nothing compared to what would happen to them if they didn't get a move on. As much as Rinoa hated it, they couldn't stop for her.

"Here," Rinoa said as she bent down in front of Sofie. "Jump on my back. Wrap your arms around my neck and I'll hold your legs, okay?"

Sofie hesitated a bit, not sure about the plan. "I'll only slow you down..."

"Do it!" Rinoa commanded, fully aware that at any moment they could be surrounded by the monsters.

It took Sofie another second to comply, but eventually she hopped onto Rinoa's back. Rinoa wasn't sure if Sofie was lighter than she thought she was, or if the survival instinct was pushing her body to its limits, but Rinoa was able to stand up with moderate ease as she walked over to Lana.

"Ready now?" Rinoa asked as Lana appeared to have regained her breath. Lana nodded, realizing Rinoa's plan.

"Ready. We'll carry Sofie in shifts. When you get tired, just let me know, okay?" Lana smiled wearily.

"Enough talking, let's move!" Rinoa responded as she noticed a group of monsters heading their way. They bolted in the other direction as Rinoa followed Lana, and Sofie firmly attached herself to Rinoa's back.

Rinoa felt Sofie as she rested her head against her shoulder.

"Thank you, Rin..." she whispered.

In that instant, Rinoa was filled with newfound resolution as her legs began running even faster away from the city.

"I'll always protect you, Sofie," Rinoa whispered back. " _I promise._ "

 _We were able to make our way to a Imperial refugee camp outside of the Edgelands. Sofie got medical treatment for her leg and head, but I knew we weren't safe there. With how close we were to the Capitol, I knew the mobs would be on top of us in a matter of days. Lana, Sofie, and I left to head South the first chance we got. We stopped at several refugee camps along the way, restocking on food and supplies, but we never stayed long. The mob horde was always right behind us. We kept going south until we couldn't go south anymore._

 _That's when we made it to Spawn Pointe._

* * *

 _ **Days Since the Mob Invasion: 213**_

* * *

Walking down the streets of Spawn Pointe, Rinoa was grinning ear to ear. A polished iron hatchet in one hand, and a coin purse full of gold in the other gave Rinoa plenty of reason to be happy today. Spawn Pointe residents took one look at her and immediately turned their head and quickly moved out of her way.

"Perks of the job, I guess," Rinoa chuckled to herself as she saw a small group of guards who were marching down the street immediately split down the middle to allow her to pass. "Evening, gentlemen," Rinoa gave a curt nod and a mischievous smile. The guards looked to the ground and didn't say anything in return as they passed her.

Truthfully, she kind of liked it. Ever since she joined the Redstone Ocelots, she had been making very good money and people treated her with respect. Or maybe that was fear? Which, as far as Rinoa was concerned, fear was just as good as respect in this day and age. She wasn't just a measly refugee anymore, and she made more than enough gold to pay rent in the small shack that her, Sofie, and Lana were staying in.

Of course, as a Redstone Ocelot, Rinoa had access to the uniform: A sleeveless, black leather cuirass that exposed her midriff, and some skin-tight black leather pants and boots with red trimmings. The armour itself was rather impractical, and Rinoa always joked that the cuirass looked more like a tight, leather brassiere than anything else, but it was more for recognition and intimidation purposes than actual armour. The armour that the Redstone Ocelots wore on their actual missions was much more practical, if not a little less showy.

Walking up the stairs to her house, Rinoa used her key to open the door before walking in. The house itself wasn't anything to be particularly proud of. A single, one-room shack that was fairly cramped for three people. There was a small fireplace and chimney, a tiny table with three wooden chairs set around it, a kitchen counter so small it might as well just be a glorified coffee table, and three bedrolls positioned side to side in the corner of the room. Other than that, the creaky floorboards and thatch roof was all that was left of the home.

Rinoa shook her head. Ever since the mob invasion, prices became so inflated that the money that she was spending on this shack could have nearly paid for a damn mansion just a few months earlier. She wasn't complaining, though; it was a lot better than the refugee camps. Having to share a single tent and a bucket with two different families. It was hell. At least with this, they had privacy and a little bit of wiggle room.

"Guess who's home?" Rinoa called out, closing the door behind her. Lana was reading a book at the table, but looked up when she saw Rinoa enter.

"And where have _you_ been?" Lana asked in an accusatory tone, snapping at Rinoa. Sofie, who was sitting at the fireplace, stood up and smiled at the sight of her sister.

"Hey, Rin," she greeted quietly. Rinoa smiled back at Sofie and nodded before sitting down at the table across from Lana.

Lana raised her brow, not amused with being ignored. "Well?" she asked again, hoping to get an explanation from her sister.

Rinoa smiled, allowing for a few seconds of dramatic suspense before she answered by throwing her coin purse onto the table in front of Lana.

 _Clink!_

"Count 'em. Enough gold for this month and next month," Rinoa beamed proudly. Lana looked at her, slightly skeptical, but eventually gave in and opened the pouch. Her eyes widened as she saw the shiny gold coins staring back at her.

"Wow, Rinoa!" Sofie exclaimed, wide-eyed as she walked over to the table and picked up one of the coins. "Where did you get all this?!" Sofie was amazed. She had never seen so much gold before since the mob invasion.

"Hah, don't worry about it, sis," Rinoa chuckled. "What matters is that we're taken care of. Go ahead, take two for yourself. We can buy something when we go into the market tomorrow." Rinoa smiled as Sofie gratefully took two of the gold coins and put in her wallet.

"Thank you, Rin," she smiled as she hugged her sister.

"No problem, Sofie," Rinoa reassured as she returned her sister's hug. She looked over at Lana who had an oddly perturbed look on her face. "Haha! You can take some too, Lana, I didn't forget about you," Rinoa laughed at her sister.

Lana didn't respond but instead continued to stare at Rinoa, examining her face for her expressions. Eventually, Rinoa got a little uneasy at this and looked away.

"Hey, what gives?" she asked.

Lana sighed as she slowly retied the string around the coin purse before sliding it back over to Rinoa.

"Keep it."

"What? Why?" Rinoa asked.

"Because I don't want your _damn_ blood money," Lana hissed as her face filled with anger. Rinoa, taken aback by this, wasn't sure what to say.

"What-...what do you mean?" she asked uncomfortably.

"What are you talking about, Lana?" Sofie asked, confused by Lana's apparent ungrateful attitude. Lana looked over at Sofie.

"While I was volunteering at the refugee camp today, I heard a rumor by one of the guards that one of their banks this morning had been robbed by the Redstone Ocelots. Two guards were killed in the heist." Turning back to Rinoa, Lana's eyes were shooting daggers at her sister. "Is that true?"

Composing herself, Rinoa sat up and spoke calmly, "Look, I already told you that I don't do that stuff. I just do small-time mercenary work and private security for them, nothing more." Rinoa's attempts to reassure her sister didn't seem to work as Lana shook her head, clearly not buying it.

"They used explosives, Sofie. TNT," Lana explained.

"TNT?!" Sofie exclaimed, as she looked over at Rinoa, clearly shocked. Rinoa sat there, looking down at her hands.

"That's right, Sofie," Lana continued as she stood up and leaned against the table with her hands. "And I only know one person in the entire city that knows how to make TNT and also just so happens to work with the Redstone Ocelots." Lana's eyes narrowed as she looked down at her younger sister. "Tell me the truth, Rinoa... Was it you?"

Rinoa avoided her sister's gaze as she stared at the coin purse on the table.

"Yes," she confessed. "I made the TNT... But I wasn't there when they robbed the bank!" Rinoa hastily explained as she looked back up at her sister. "I just supplied the stuff, honest!"

"Rinoa..." Sofie's face dropped and her shoulders slouched. She was clearly hurt by this news.

"You think it fucking matters, Rinoa?! So what if you 'just supplied' it?" Lana scoffed, clearly disgusted from Rinoa's answer. "These people are griefers, Rin! Terrorists! Two people died today because of them!" Lana couldn't believe how stupid her sister was being. She knew that the Redstone Ocelots were a bad crowd, and she held her tongue as long as Rinoa was only doing small security work for them, but this was taking things too far. "You need to quit. Immediately," she demanded.

"What?!" Rinoa jumped, starting to get angry herself. "The Redstone Ocelots are the only reason we have a roof over our head right now. Do you really want to go back to the refugee camp?" Rinoa also stood up from the table as her and Lana were now eye level with each other with only the table separating them.

"What I _want_ is my sister back, Rinoa," Lana argued.

"Well I don't see you doing anything to help! All you do is volunteer at the refugee camp all day for copper bits and spare food. One of us has to make the gold and pay the rent around here, Lana!" Rinoa yelled as her face started to turn red from anger.

" _I_ don't do anything to help?" Lana mocked. "Rin, I help people _all day_. Why don't you think about others for a change?! You and your friends are nothing but fucking murderers!"

 _Murderers._

The word bounced around in Rinoa's head as she opened her mouth to retort, but nothing came out. She looked over at Sofie who appeared frightened by the sight of her two big sisters fighting. Rinoa sighed, as her muscles began to ease. She looked back over at Lana scornfully.

"I'm going out," she simply said as she turned tail to leave. Walking out the door, she could hear Sofie call out to her.

"Rin, wait!"

"Let her go, Sofie," Lana responded, annoyed. "This isn't over, Rin!"

 _Slam!_

Rinoa knew she should probably be more careful slamming the door seeing as it already looked like it was about to rot off of its hinges, but she didn't care. It made her feel better, albeit slightly. She let out an angry groan as she began walking.

Behind their house, there was a large, stone terrace built on top of a hill that was originally going to be used as the platform for a new watchtower for the Imperial Garrison. After the mob invasion, the plans for the watchtower were put aside. However, it just so happened to be Rinoa's favorite place to go and collect her thoughts.

Climbing up the stairs of the terrace, Rinoa felt relief when she finally reached the top. Looking out over the city, she could see for miles on top of the hill. Almost every part of the stone city was in her sights. Spawn Pointe was large. Not as large as the Capitol, but large nonetheless. She could see the market, the refugee camp, the southernmost stone wall, the dockyard full to the brim with boats, and perhaps her favorite view, the ocean. She grinned, watching the sunset reflect off the waves of the water. With a view that beautiful, it was easy to sometimes forget that there even was zombies or creepers or mobs in this world. How could such evil exist in a world with such beauty at the same time? She sat down as she watched the sun slowly descend into the water. Finally, after about an hour, the sun was completely set below the horizon of the ocean, and darkness soon began to take its place.

"I thought I would find you up here." A soft voice interrupted Rinoa's train of thought as she jerked back into attention. She looked over to see Sofie climbing up the stairs of the terrace. Rinoa eased up, thankful that it wasn't anybody else.

"Hey, Sofie," Rinoa greeted. "You didn't have to come up here, you know. I mean, it's dark and I was just about to leave anyway."

"I know," Sofie nodded. "But I wanted to talk to you," she smiled as she sat down next to Rinoa.

Rinoa shrugged, "Alright. Suit yourself."

For awhile there was silence, then Sofie finally spoke up.

"She cares, you know. She wouldn't get so angry otherwise." Sofie hated seeing her sisters fight, and whenever they did (which was often,) she liked to act as the mediator between them. She felt like it was her duty as the youngest, but she didn't mind.

Rinoa shook her head, "I just wish... I just wish she showed a little bit of appreciation. Or understanding at least." Rinoa rubbed her brow, unhappy with the way things turned out today.

"I know," Sofie said as she placed a hand on her sister's shoulder. "I know," she reassured.

"The bank robbery was a botched job, but that's not _my_ fault. It was supposed to be easy money, nobody was supposed to get hurt. Then two of the new guys got jumpy and ended up killing two of the guards," Rinoa explained the situation as best she could to her younger sister. Even though Rinoa wasn't there during the robbery, her boss had relayed the news to her when she got her cut of the pay.

"Don't you feel, I dunno, sort of guilty or anything?" Sofie asked. Unlike Lana, she didn't sound like she was accusing Rinoa of anything, but instead genuinely curious and concerned. Rinoa thought that it was refreshing.

Thinking for a moment before answering, Rinoa stared at her sister for awhile. Finally, she stood up and stepped close to the edge of the terrace as she looked over the city. The city was even more beautiful at night than during the day. Looking at the moon's reflection on the ocean in the distance, she finally answered.

"Remember when we first got here? How we had to stay at the refugee camp?" she quietly asked. Sofie thought for a second, then nodded. She remembered. "One day," Rinoa continued, "I was coming back through the market with our rations for the day, and I saw a young girl standing in an alleyway, no older than you." She let out a long breath before she continued. "She was-... she was offering to sleep with anyone that she saw. Didn't matter if they were a man or woman. She didn't want money for it... she just wanted food. She had a hurt leg, so she was always pushed aside at the ration line. She was starving," Rinoa choked back tears, becoming emotional as she recalled the memory.

Sofie, now standing, rubbed her sister's back as she retold the story. "What happened?" she asked.

"I-I wanted to give her some food, but I showed up late to the ration line that day, so I only had two rations, one for you and Lana," Rinoa admitted, calming herself down with deep breaths. "The next day, I showed up early to the ration line. I fought and clawed and bit my way to the front of the line, and I was able to snatch four rations. I immediately ran back to the market to find her again... but she wasn't there. I never saw her again. I don't know what happened to her."

"Rin... I'm so sorry, but you need to understand that's not your fault," Sofie said as she pulled her sister in close for a hug, which Rinoa happily embraced.

"I found the Redstone Ocelots' recruiter the next day," Rinoa said, burying her face into Sofie's shoulder, not wanting to let go from the hug. "I knew they were dangerous, but it didn't matter. I never wanted you or Lana to ever be in the same position that girl was to survive. That's why I did it... that's why I do it." With her hands on Sofie's shoulders, Rinoa pulled back enough for her to look in her sister's eyes. "I'll never feel guilty for keeping you and Lana safe, Sofie. No matter what."

Sofie smiled warmly at her sister, seemingly appreciative, but Rinoa could see there was something else she wanted to say.

"What if there was another way?" Sofie asked.

Rinoa cocked her head to the side, confused. "What do you mean?"

Sofie reached into the pouch attached to her belt and pulled out a handful of silver coins.

"I, uh, went to the market yesterday while you and Lana were at the ration line," Sofie explained as Rinoa looked at the money in her hand, dumbfounded.

"Sofie, where did you get that?" Rinoa asked, slightly concerned. Sofie and Lana were both volunteers at the refugee camp, so their pay was nominal at best and nonexistent at worst.

"Herbalism," Sofie cheerfully responded. "I used the spare change I got working in the refugee camp to buy some plants, and I used a mortar and pestle to make them into some herblore potions. I went to the market and sold them," Sofie explained. She could see a hundred different questions running through Rinoa's head. It made her laugh.

"Herbalism? How do you know herbalism, I thought you were studying alchemy? And aren't alchemy potions better than herblore potions? Why didn't you tell me?" Rinoa's tirade of questions came out seemingly all at once.

"Hey, I may be an alchemist, but that doesn't mean I didn't have a few herbalism courses at the university as well," Sofie winked. "And yes, alchemy potions might be more effective, but they're also more expensive, which nobody can afford nowadays. Besides, where would I even find a blaze rod to make a brewing stand?" She slipped the coins back into her pouch. "Thing is, Rin, even though I was selling the potions at a price that barely turned a profit, there's still so many people out there that need medicine that I sold out in less than an hour. I'm pretty sure I could buy more next time, and more stock means more coin for us," she explained. "Aaaaand, I didn't tell you because I knew you'd try to stop me," Sofie grinned mischievously as she finished.

"You can't go to the market's by yourself though, Sofie," Rinoa half-explained, half-scolded. "It's dangerous."

"I know, I know... which leads me to my proposal," Sofie grabbed Rinoa's hands in hers and looked into her sister's eyes hopefully. "Leave the Redstone Ocelots and come with me during the day to the markets. You can be my bodyguard. I know we won't be making as much money as you do with the Ocelots, but we'd have enough to be comfortable. We'll be able to pay the rent and eat every day, and isn't that enough?" Sofie pleaded, searching Rinoa's face for an answer. "Isn't it?"

Rinoa could barely believe what she was hearing. She knew Sofie was smart, but she never seemed the like type to take the initiative like this. It's true that money she made in just one hour of selling those potions wasn't anything to shake a stick at. Still, Rinoa had her doubts.

"I don't know, Sofie... do you really think this would work?" she asked. Sofie just smiled at her and nodded her head.

"I know it will," she responded. " _I promise._ "

 _So, I left the Redstone Ocelots the next day. They didn't try to stop me, they already had my formula for making TNT, and as far as they were concerned I was just one less person that they had to share their cuts of loot with. Still, they did let me keep the uniform, which came in handy as Sofie's bodyguard in the market. It made sure no assholes tried to give Sofie a raw deal, what with me being her former Redstone Ocelots sister and all, heheh... And for awhile, things were going well... Until the rations ran out. Turns out there was a whole conspiracy of Spawn Pointe government officials hoarding food for themselves while they let the rations for their citizens and refugees dwindle to the point of starvation. And once the food was gone, people went berserk. Mass riots and hysteria filled the streets. Luckily, I still had a few friends in the Redstone Ocelots, and they were able to smuggle me, Sofie, and Lana out of the city during the rioting... for a reasonable price, of course. Not that the money was much use for us out of the city anyway. I found out that the city walls fell about two weeks later, not from the mobs outside, but from the rioting inside as people tried to escape. Ironic, huh, Zoe?_

 _Eventually, we made it to a little town by Lake Calamari called Hunter's Watch. They seemed like good people. I **thought** they were good people. Things were going great there... Then one day Sofie shows up on the other side of the wall... dead. They said that she was gathering alchemy supplies and she got ambushed by some mobs, but I wasn't buying it. She would have told me, she always told me. There was too much suspicious behavior by her boyfriend, William. He did it. I just knew he did... There was something in my gut, an instinct. I can't explain it, but it was there... One night he was on patrol by himself... I couldn't stop myself from what happened next..._

* * *

 **Days Since the Mob Invasion: 734**

* * *

 _Thwack!_

A large chunk of William's neck was slashed out by the blow. The cut was deep enough to tear through his windpipe as well as his veins, and he fell over to the ground as blood started pouring out of his neck. His eyes opened wide as he looked up at Rinoa in horror at his impending death.

Rinoa stared back into his eyes completely uncaring. She pulled him by the hair as she positioned his head to hang over the side of the wall. This way, the blood would drip from his neck to the ground below on the other side and it wouldn't stain the wood. She took her hatchet and wiped the blood off on William's clothes. There would be no evidence that he was murdered. This was just an accident. She watched as the life in his face slowly faded, and his eyelids softly closed. He was dead.

They were on top of the wall overlooking the gate. Usually, Daren had the night shifts, but he had come down with a case of the flu this week, but he didn't want to waste a potion of health on it, so William was forced to take his place. Convenient for Rinoa, but very inconvenient for William.

Rinoa showed no signs of emotion as she kicked William's body over the edge of the gate. A nice group of zombies had shown up on the other side of the gate, and Rinoa watched on as they greedily tore William's lifeless body apart during their feast. Having seen enough, Rinoa turned to go, but stopped almost as if she forgot something. Reaching into her back pocket, she pulled out a flat, pocket-sized bottle of whiskey. She poured half of it out on the ground, took a swig of it herself, then left the rest of the bottle opened next to the seat that William was previously sitting in while on guard duty.

 _You always were a bit of a drunk,_ Rinoa thought to herself as she took one last look at William's corpse being devoured under the moonlight. _Goodbye, William._

Calmly walking down the steps, Rinoa quietly walked through Hunter's Watch as if nothing had happened. She didn't bother trying to hide herself even though she knew if she got caught it would be found out that she killed William. But she also knew that everybody else was asleep this late at night. The only people that had been awake were her and William...

Now it was just her.

Eventually, she made it to Lana's house and quietly knocked on the door. No answer. She waited a few seconds before knocking again, slightly louder this time. She heard movement coming from within, and after awhile the door cracked open.

"Yeah...?" Lana asked sleepily as she peered through the crack in the door, still wearing her nightgown. Seeing that it was Rinoa, she quickly opened it all the way. "Rinoa? What's wrong?" she yawned, still half asleep.

"Let me in and be quiet," Rinoa whispered in a monotonous voice that Lana wasn't used to. Lana furrowed her brow at this, clearly confused, but she still complied as she stepped over to the side to allow Rinoa to walk through the door.

"Thank you," Rinoa said as she sat down in one of Lana's chairs in the living room. There was a dim light coming in from the windows due to the moon, but other than that they were in complete darkness. Lana closed the door behind them and sat down in a chair directly in front of Rinoa, curious as to what the late-night meeting was really about.

"What's going on, Rinoa? Why do I have to keep quiet?" Lana figured it was a reasonable question. Rinoa did interrupt the few hours of sleep she was able to get, after all, so an explanation would be appreciated.

"I killed William."

The answer was so blunt and straightforward even Rinoa was slightly surprised by herself for giving it. Lana recoiled at this, taken aback by Rinoa's apparent sense of dark humour.

"Heh, w-what? That's not very funny, Rin."

"I'm not joking. I killed William." Rinoa, once again, spoke calmly and bluntly. That's when Lana slowly started to realize that Rinoa was telling the truth. In complete shock, she opened her mouth to say something, but only one word could come to mind.

"Why?" she shakily asked.

Rinoa then explained what she did and how she did it. Catching William off guard, making sure none of his blood was spilled on top of the gate, letting the zombies have his body, the whiskey bottle to make it look like he got drunk and fell over the side. She explained everything.

"He killed Sofie, Lana," Rinoa assured. "I'm positive he did. Her neck was snapped, mobs don't do that. He was acting way too suspicious." Even in the cover of darkness, Rinoa could tell that Lana was crying from her rapid breathing.

"I... I don't even know who you are anymore," Lana confessed in a hushed whisper as tears freely streamed down her face.

"If you tell Frederick or the others, they'll kill me. Are you going to tell them?" Rinoa simply asked. She was prepared for either answer.

"Don't you dare put this on me, Rinoa, this was your own doing!" Lana shouted, maddened by Rinoa's audacity.

"Are you going to tell them or not?" Rinoa repeated her question, clearly not caring about Lana's feelings about the matter.

Lana didn't respond right away, still trying to wrap her head around the situation. Finally, she looked at Rinoa's face illuminated in the moonlight as she seethed in anger.

"I won't tell them for the time being," she answered, furiously. "But you need to get the hell out of my house while I think about all this. Now." She stood up and pointed toward the door.

The answer came as a surprise to Rinoa who, frankly, had already resigned her fate to the worst. "You won't tell them?" she asked in disbelief as she stood up to leave.

"Out. Now!" Lana barked, pointing to the door. Rinoa obeyed as she walked over to the door and opened it to let herself out.

"Lana," she stopped the door from closing with her hand as she turned back to look at her sister. "You really won't tell them?" she asked, still confused. Lana seemed almost unwilling to believe that Rinoa would have the gall to press this after what she just told her, but as of right now she just wanted her gone.

"No, Rin," Lana responded indignantly as she looked through the doorway at her sister. " _I promise._ "

 _Needless to say, she did end up telling somebody. One of our friends named Hunter. Which, if she was going to tell someone, he was probably the best person to go to. Frederick would have just gotten Zeke to kill me since William was his nephew, and Daren would have probably impaled me on the spot if she told him. So yeah, once Hunter found out about it, he decided to take matters into his own hands. A few days later, he's taking me on a trip to get supplies using a nether portal. We traveled in the Nether for three days. Once we popped out, he tells me that he's exiling me for William's murder and he tries to take my compass. I figured that while he's doing this, Lana is busy telling everyone in Hunter's Watch what happened while we were away. Hunter and I got into a bit of a scuffle, and I manage to snag his compass, but he escaped and closed the nether portal behind him, and I was left about a month away in the Overworld from Hunter's Watch with his compass to guide me and a few spare items in my bag. I started following the compass, and a couple of days later I met you.  
_

* * *

 ** _Now  
_**

The fire was slowly starting to die down as Rinoa finished her story to Zoe who had listened to the entirety of it in complete silence.

"So, there you have it," Rinoa wrapped up. "That's it. All there is to know, from beginning to end. Couldn't tell you any more if I wanted to."

Zoe looked into the embers of the fire, clearly saddened by Rinoa's tale. She had been through so much... _too much._

"You really worked for a group of griefers?" she asked.

Rinoa nodded. "I did."

"And William... I mean, you just killed him like that?"

Once again, Rinoa nodded. "I did." She was tired of trying to hide her past to Zoe. If Zoe truly did have a problem with it, she could walk out the door and leave. Not that Rinoa would blame her for it.

"That's... wow... I mean, I guess if what the witch said is true, he _really_ did kill your sister and all, but man..." Zoe exhaled deeply, not entirely sure what to say.

Rinoa shrugged. "If I could do it all over again, I'm not sure how I would do things. But one thing's for certain: I would survive. That's the only thing that matters anymore."

Seeing things from Rinoa's point of view, Zoe nodded. "So Hunter's Watch is your revenge mission? A chance to get back at the people that covered up your sister's death and sided with her murderer?" Finally, Zoe felt like she was beginning to understand Rinoa. Listening to her story, everything about her personality; the paranoia, the aggressiveness, the slow-to-trust attitude that she had, it all began to make sense now.

"My sister was killed by William. And, from what the witch said, somebody else from Hunter's Watch was involved too. And honestly? I don't know who it could be," Rinoa brought the compass back out from her pocket as she stared at the line of redstone that was perpetually pointed in front of her toward the direction of Hunter's Watch. "But I will find out who did it, and I will get justice for Sofie's death. I promise you that."

Zoe nodded. That seemed a fair enough answer to her. Rinoa didn't appear to be the murdering type, but Zoe could understand how the loss of a sibling could affect someone like that. All things considered, Zoe actually thought Rinoa was justified. There isn't any jails or Imperial troops to make arrests now. If you want justice anymore, you have to take the matter into your own hands.

"So," Zoe slowly asked, "What exactly are you going to do when you get there? When you get to Hunter's Watch?" Zoe had a feeling she knew the answer, but she couldn't help but ask anyway.

Rinoa stared into the smoldering embers of the fireplace as they emitted a little bit of light to fill up the room. Her complexion glowered as she looked up into Zoe's face, her eyes determined and fiery as they reflected the light from the embers.

" _Burn._ " Rinoa shook in anger as her words spewed out like venom. " **I'm going to burn them all**!"

* * *

 _ **Next Chapter: Unimaginable Loss**_

* * *

 ** _A/N: Almost one year ago, I had a dream/vision one night while I was sleeping. In that dream, I saw three people who I knew were sisters as they ran away from a burning city. I woke up that morning and thought that it was nothing more than just a weird dream. Days went by, but I couldn't get the image out of my head. Eventually, I started asking questions. "What are the sisters' names? Why is the city on fire? Where are they going? What will they do?" Before I knew it, I was building a small little story in my head around these girls. Eventually, I realized I couldn't keep this bottled up inside me anymore, and I knew I had to write a story about it. I decided to use Minecraft's universe because it left a lot of room for me to tell my own story, but it also gave me a solid foundation to build up on as well as elements and "rules" to use (E.G., alchemy, diamond weapons, redstone, and, of course, the mobs.) That, and I used to play Minecraft a lot back in 'da day, so I had some knowledge of it. And so after a month or two of brainstorming, I began writing for "One Step Closer."_**

 ** _I know flashback chapters aren't that popular (for good reasons,) but I honestly feel like this is the most important chapter that I've written. I feel like I've come around full-circle finally. I mean, I still got a long ways to go before the story is ever over, but right now? I feel very good. Thank you all once again for getting this story to 1,000+ views, and I look forward to hearing any feedback. Thanks again._**


	12. Book 1, Chapter 11: Unimaginable Loss

_(A/N: I'm sorry for how long this took. I meant to have this chapter uploaded last month, and I actually had over half of it written. Unfortunately, I went through a pretty rough breakup with my girlfriend of over a year, and the depression and lack of motivation that followed made writing very difficult, especially a chapter such as this where I really needed to have a clear head. But abandoning the story was never in my mind and never has been, so I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thank you all for your patience.)  
_

* * *

 ** _Book 1: The Mob Invasion_**  
 ** _Chapter 11: Unimaginable Loss_**

 _ **Days Since the Mob Invasion: 749**_

* * *

"Shit's fucked," Hunter astutely pointed out as he and Alan walked through the forest tracking Jericho and his army. Lana had let them borrow her compass for the expedition, seeing how Hunter had 'lost' his, so they'd have a definite way of getting back to Hunter's Watch if he got lost. Hunter held onto the compass as if his life depended on it.

The morning was overcast. Dark. Hunter could smell the rain in the air, and he was certain that it'd be pouring before the day was over. Alan followed close behind them as they quietly trekked through the underbrush.

"You should have told us, Hunter," Alan scolded in a whisper. "Especially Lana."

Keeping the fact that Rinoa had stolen Hunter's compass a secret was pretty big. Alan had only heard stories about Rinoa from the others, but from what he had picked up, she seemed to be a very unhinged and dangerous person. Even Hunter, perhaps Rinoa's biggest sympathizer other than Lana, seemed scared of her. With Hunter's compass, she would come back to Hunter's Watch for revenge, everyone was sure of it.

Hunter sighed, "You think I didn't want to, man? I was going to at least tell Lana, but then you showed up, the Testificates got killed, and then the next thing I know we have this Jericho asshole banging on our gates threatening to kill us all for some holy squid god that they apparently worship. Needless to say, I haven't exactly found the best opportunity for it." Hunter grunted, ducking beneath a low-hanging vine. "That being said, it's not exactly like last night was the best opportunity either," he smirked, rubbing his cheek.

"Yeah, how's your face?" Alan asked. "Lana seemed pretty mad. I didn't think we would be able to pull her off of you after you told her."

"Hah, well, it still stings. Lana hits harder than you'd expect for someone her size."

"Can you blame her?"

"No," Hunter slightly frowned. "No, I can not... Look, I know I screwed up by not telling everyone, and we can talk more about that when we get back, but for now can we just focus on following these tracks?" Hunter figured that the others could stone him with guilt all they want when him and Alan return, but as of right now all he wanted to focus on was keeping up with Jericho.

Alan complied, and for a while there was silence.

"Hey, I'm curious," Hunter said after a few minutes of quiet. "What did you do before all this? I just realized we've been so caught up with things recently I haven't even had the opportunity to ask you."

Life before all this? Alan could hardly even remember anymore. Did it really even matter?

"Well," Alan sighed. "I was a student at the Capitol University. But you and the others already knew that. I studied alchemy under Master Dodin, I was one of his apprentices. I also studied advanced first aid along with a bit of herblore. I wanted to be a field-medic." Alan smiled softly as faint visions of his days at the University filled his mind.

"Ahhh, I see now," Hunter chuckled. "That explains why you were able to keep such a cool head when you were patching up my wounds earlier. Hell, I think anyone else would have lost their nerve. Except maybe Daren, he's used to the 'blood and guts' thing."

Alan nodded, even though Hunter couldn't see it while he was in front of him.

"Yeah, I had a little bit of training during the Edgelands Rebellion. Master Dodin took me and a few of the other apprentices with him to one of the Imperial camps outside of the battlegrounds. I helped tend to some of the less severely wounded soldiers. Some people think it's just a matter of pouring a potion of healing or drinking a potion of regeneration, but it's not. It actually takes a lot of studying and practice to figure out the right dosages for a specific wound, which types of potions to use, and which order to use potions to effectively reduce recovery time." Alan laughed softly. "You know, simple stuff like that."

Studying alchemy and medicine wasn't easy, but in those brief few days of working on the battlegrounds, he felt like he really made a difference. He felt like he saved people.

Hunter whistled quietly, "Shit, Alan. You're a regular saint. See, my family never really got too caught up in the war. Too busy tending the farm, I guess. But, hey, somebody's gotta put food on the table, right?" he laughed, but frowned almost immediately after. "I miss the farm," he mumbled to himself. At the time, he almost hated it. Waking up early. Nearly breaking his back to tend the soil. Feeding and caring for all the animals... But, at the end of the day, he realized that he wouldn't have wanted it any other way.

It sure as hell beat living the way they were now.

Alan noticed Hunter's change in demeanor and decided not to say anything else. They carried on in silence.

* * *

The two continued to follow the tracks and eventually made their way into a clearing within the forest and came across what looked to be an abandoned camp. With the embers of a large campfire still burning, as well as the multiple foot prints around the area, Hunter and Alan deduced that this camp had to have been used by Jericho and his army, and that they had only recently left.

"Well, shit on a biscuit, we fuckin' missed 'em." Hunter groaned as he looked around the campsite, examining the various litter that had been left behind. A broken tent, empty crates, piles of hay, an old water bucket, a few tree stumps as well as a few empty glass bottles all strewn around the smoldering campfire.

"Are we sure they won't be coming back?" Alan asked, justifiably worried that at any moment Jericho's small army would have them surrounded and outnumbered.

"Nah, I don't think so." Hunter pointed towards the direction of the tracks leading away from the campsite. "They went north." Hunter raised his finger to point to the large, snow-capped mountains in the distance, only several miles away now. "Towards the Iron Mountains... but why...?" Hunter's voice trailed off.

The Iron Mountains, the natural border that separated North Minecraftia from South Minecraftia, was inhospitable. Even during the summer months, the extreme elevation caused the mountains to be perpetually covered in snow. The only way to cross through the mountains on foot would be through the Notched Way, the famous trail that was carved through the mountains by Emperor Notch's army as they advanced into the south of Minecraftia during the Baron Wars. Why would Jericho risk going there?

"Maybe," Alan hypothesized as he stood next to Hunter, "it's not the mountains themselves, but what's on the other side?"

"The Edgelands," Hunter answered, nodding to himself. It would make sense. Jericho, Amelia, as well as most of the people in their army had Edgeland accents and even spoke the old Edgelands language.

"Which means, they're going to go get more supplies... or more soldiers," Alan deduced. The thought was enough to shake him to the bones. They got lucky yesterday by using that stockpile of TNT dynamite that Rinoa had left in the mines. Funnily enough, from everything bad that Alan had heard about Rinoa, she saved everyone's life yesterday, albeit inadvertently.

The two of them stood there, backs turned to the campsite, as they stared towards the looming mountains. Hunter wasn't sure what to do with that information, or what to tell the others when they returned to Hunter's Watch. Hell, between Jericho's army and the whole Rinoa situation, maybe it would be best if they all just picked up and moved somewhere else? Sure, they had walls, but how safe would that really keep them in the long run? In the grand scheme of things, Hunter wasn't too surprised. Any town with walls is going to attract attention sooner or later. But where would they even move to if they did decide to change locations? If they had more people-

 _"Hissss..."  
_

Hunter's eye shot open and his blood went cold as his train of thought was interrupted by an all too familiar 'hiss.' He quickly spun around to see it: a creeper, standing right next to Alan, with its leaf-like body starting to swell.

Out of the corner of Alan's left eye, he saw the green figure standing right next to him. Frozen in fear, all he could do was stand there completely unable to move.

" **ALAN! WATCH-** "

 _ **BOOM!**_

The point-blank blast was enough to throw Alan off of his feet, slamming him directly into Hunter's body. The two rolled on the ground away from each other as the explosion rocked the earth underneath them.

Hunter's ears were ringing as his body came to a stop. Landing on his back, Hunter's entire body ached from his ears to his legs, and it took him a full minute before he found the strength to raise his head and look around. Looking at his body, he realized he was bleeding pretty bad on his side, and he felt blood stream down his face, but the wounds didn't look life-threatening. Maybe Alan's body had taken the brunt of the damage.

 _Alan!  
_ _  
_Hunter's body jerked in realization as he painfully sat up and looked around to find Alan. His gaze soon met Alan's body, sprawled on the ground several feet away from him.

 _He's not moving. Why isn't he moving?_

Struggling to his feet, Hunter winced as it felt like both of his legs were on fire. Biting back the pain, he limped over to inspect Alan, when something from the bushes on the other side of the camp caught his eye and his ears.

Walking very slowly out of the bushes in a line, five zombies hobbled out of the forest into the campsite, groaning all along the way.

"Oh shit," Hunter cursed, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. He watched as the zombies' rotten, black eyes met his. Then, in unison, the zombies looked down at Alan's body still laying on the ground between them and Hunter. "Oh _**shit!**_ _"_ Hunter yelled as he saw the zombies make their move as they advanced toward Alan.

Unsheathing the small dagger on his hip, Hunter limped as fast as he could over to Alan's body. Kneeling down, he quickly rolled him over and gasped. The entire side of Alan's face was covered in blood and severely wounded from the explosion that ripped his skin into shreds. Hunter was sure that Alan was dead, but checking his pulse, he realized that he still had a heartbeat, albeit faint. He was alive! Alan was still alive! Hunter looked up and saw the zombies, slowly making their way closer to their prey.

"Alan, wake up! Alan!" Hunter shook Alan's shoulders in a desperate attempt to wake him. He looked back up and saw the zombies had gotten even closer. They'd be on top of them in a couple of seconds. "Alan, please! Alan!"

The zombies were only a few feet away now.

" _ **ALAN!**_ "

* * *

A feeling of weightlessness washed over Alan's body after the explosion. It was all a bit fuzzy, but the last thing he remembered was the explosion from the creeper, and the feeling of his body flying through the air from the force of the blast.

He didn't remember ever hitting the ground.

But now he was alone. Floating. Surrounded by a near blinding white light everywhere he turned. It was like he was in a completely white room that expanded for as far as the eye could conceivably see. And yet, he did not feel any hard surface underneath his feet. No floor. This place could not be physical. He was almost positive that he was dead.

Looking down at his hands, he could see that he was still clothed and still had feelings in his fingers. He pinched his side just to make sure, and the sharp pain that followed confirmed it. If he _was_ dead, he could still feel, and he still had his body. At least for now.

"Hello."

A girl's soft voice from behind him shattered the silence. Quickly spinning around, Alan was shocked to find a young girl, probably a few years younger than him, standing there patiently waiting for him with a smile. She had light brown hair cut short, hazel-blue eyes, and pale skin. She appeared to be wearing a long, blue dress that was simple in design but still very beautiful. Her smile, though, was what grabbed Alan's attention. Her teeth were white as pearls and it was surprisingly reassuring, giving him a small amount of comfort.

"W-where am I? Am I...?" Alan stumbled. The girl let out a small laugh at this as if she predicted in her mind that's what he would say.

"No, Alan. You're not dead. But you are very close to it." Her smile faded to a concerned frown. "That creeper almost killed you. I'm the only thing stopping you from passing on right now."

Alan visibly jerked at his name being mentioned.

"You know my name? How? Who are you?" Alan asked, nearly panicking. The girl placed her hand on Alan's shoulder reassuringly. Her touch was unnaturally cold, and yet consoling. It reminded him of a mother trying to calm down a frantic child.

"Relax. You're safe here, you just need to trust me. I've been watching you for the past few days, Alan. I know almost everything about you... But do you know anything about me?" the girl asked, smiling once again. Alan raised his eyebrows, perplexed by her question.

"What do you mean? I've never met you before in my life."

Once again, the girl let out a soft laugh, showing off her perfect teeth. "Maybe not," she said. "But, don't I look a little... familiar?"

Alan examined her carefully again. Pale skin, hazel-blue eyes, a Capitol accent, light-brown hair, almost red. The more he looked at her, the more he realized that she _did_ look familiar. Hell, she looked a lot like Lana, almost like they were related...

 _Lana...  
_ _  
_The realization hit Alan like a punch to the stomach as he opened his mouth in surprise.

"You're... you're Lana's youngest sister. You're Sofie," Alan stuttered out. Pleased with his answer, the girl nodded, confirming Alan's guess. "How? How is any of this possible? You're dead! What is happening?" Alan asked again, more than a little freaked out that he was having a conversation with a dead person.

"There are many things outside your realm of knowledge, Alan. It would take too long to explain it, and we're running out of time. All you need to know is that death is never just the end," Sofie smiled and moved in closer to Alan, looking up into his eyes with a spark of hope. "It's just the beginning."

Not sure what to make of this, or even where to begin on his questions about the afterlife, Alan asked his next question. "What do you want?" He figured it was a practical question. Sofie wouldn't be having this conversation with him for no reason.

"You found my journal the other night, in my house's basement. Do you remember?" Sofie straightened up and asked Alan, her demeanor becoming slightly more serious in tone.

"Yeah, I remember," Alan responded. "I also found a zombie chained up in a cage in there. What was all that about?"

"You need to go back into the basement and read the rest of my journal. All of the answers you need are in there, they will help you. I wasn't able to stop this nightmare... but maybe with my help, _you_ can." Sofie grabbed Alan's shoulders, stressing the importance of her words. "You have to trust me, Alan. It was my life's work after the mob invasion, you'll need it if you ever want things to return to the way they were. Do you understand me?" she asked, desperately searching Alan's eyes for an answer.

Dumbfounded by what Sofie could possibly mean, but realizing they might not have much time left, Alan responded with a simple nod of his head, unable to find the words to express his agreement. Clearly relieved by this, Sofie smiled as she took a few steps backwards.

"Thank you, Alan. I'm sure you'll be able to do what I couldn't. I have to leave now, but just know that I'll be watching your journey from here on out. Good luck, my friend. You'll never be alone." Beaming with apparent joy, Sofie gave Alan a nod before turning her back on him and beginning to walk away, as if she was about to walk through a magical doorway that Alan couldn't see. Instantly, Alan found his strength to talk again, and immediately shouted out the one question that had burned in his mind since he first heard about Sofie's death.

"Did William kill you?" Alan practically yelled in a desperate attempt to stop Sofie before she could leave. It worked. Stopping in her tracks, Sofie let out a deep sigh as she turned around and began walking back over to Alan. Her smile had turned into a cold, angry scowl, and quite frankly, it scared Alan. Now standing in front of him, she wrapped her hand around the back of his neck and brought her mouth up to his left ear. Alan could feel the chill of her breath as she whispered very quietly.

" _Don't trust their lies._ "

Alan felt the cold breath as it spread to the rest of his body, freezing him to the bone. His vision began to blur, and he began to feel as if he was falling, but very slowly. The white light that had surrounded him started to go black, and the vision of Sofie immediately disappeared. Darkness had swallowed him up, and although his mouth was open, he could not scream for help no matter how hard he tried. Finally, he felt his body as it collided with the hard, rocky surface of the ground, and he was immediately knocked into a deep sleep.

* * *

Groaning, Alan slowly began to regain consciousness as he felt his body leaned up against what he assumed to be a tree. He attempted to move, but a dull pain in his left arm stopped him. Opening his eyes, he looked down to see that his arm was in a makeshift sling made of his own shirt, and had multiple bandages wrapped around it.

"Ah, so he lives!" Alan heard Hunter's familiar voice in front of him. Looking up, he saw Hunter sitting on the other side of a small campfire that had been built between the two. The sky was dark, and it looked like night-time would be on them very soon. Hunter was also leaning against a tree, and he too seemed to be faring pretty poorly. A large gash on his forehead was still bleeding, and he looked like he was coated in zombie guts. Nevertheless, Hunter was happily drinking whiskey from his flask as if he had no care in the world. Although there was a campfire in front of them, they weren't at the same campsite as they were before, and they were deep in the forest now away from any clearings.

"Hunter... what happened?" Alan groaned. It hurt him just to speak, much less move. Hunter laughed drunkenly, bellowing out loud. He just smiled and tossed a potion of regeneration over the campfire for Alan.

"Drink up, friend! Would have given it to you sooner, but eh..." Hunter took another swing of his flask, and let out a long, deep sigh, seemingly satisfied. "You know," he slurred. "Creepers are nasty little fuckers. They're made of leaves and are light as a feather, so you can barely fuckin' hear them before they get up right on top of you and... boom... just like that," Hunter rambled on staring into the campfire.

A little put-off by Hunter's drunkenness, but nonetheless happy that his friend was still alive, Alan used his right arm to pop the top off the potion he was given and quickly drank the contents, feeling the effects of the elixir starting to kick in almost immediately.

"Do we have anymore healing potions?" Alan inquired as he finished the bottle. "I know we took a few with us, you should use it on your head wound there," Alan pointed out. Hunter just shook his head, grinning to himself.

"Well, bud, I appreciate the concern, but I used all of them on your face and arm... Added some bandages too. I, uh, couldn't fix the ear though... Sorry about that."

 _Wait, my ear?_ Alan thought.

Still hurting, Alan reached his right hand over to touch his left ear and...

"By the gods..." Alan whispered as tears welled up in his eyes. It was gone. Completely. The skin around had been healed by the healing potion that Hunter had administered, but the ear itself was blown clean off from the creeper. Frantic, Alan snapped his finger several times right beside where the ear used to be.

Nothing. He couldn't hear anything out of his left ear. He was now effectively half-deaf.

Struggling to come to terms with this, Alan felt as if he was about to vomit up the potion of regeneration that he had just drank. "I-I can't hear anything in that ear anymore, Hunter... It's deaf. I think I'm going to be sick."

Hunter shrugged. "Well, shit, man. I'm sorry. But, hell, at least you're alive, right? That's more than some people can say, right? Maybe some whiskey will help you feel better. I know it does me." Hunter's blasé attitude about the situation was starting to piss Alan off as Alan scowled at him.

"Is there ever a time when you're _not_ fucking drunk, Hunter?!" Alan snapped. Hunter looked up at him, his demeanor changing as he frowned, looking genuinely saddened. Without saying a word, Hunter stood up in front of Alan and reached down, pulling up his left pants leg. Not realizing what it was at first, Alan gasped when he saw it.

A fresh bite mark halfway up the calf and still oozing blood. Hunter was bitten.

Speechless, Alan just sat there as tears began to now freely stream down his face. Hunter chuckled as he lowered the pants leg.

"Yeah... That was about my same reaction too. 'Shit's fucked,' right?" Hunter sat back down and took another swig of alcohol. "And do you wanna know how I got bit, Alan?" he asked, feigning curiosity. "By saving _your_ ass from about half a dozen fuckin' zombies that wanted to turn you into their dinner!" he slammed his fist into the ground as he began to yell. "I could have just left your ass and used you as a distraction while I got away, but no! I tried to fuckin' save you, and look what it fuckin' got me, Alan!" Hunter screamed at the top of his lungs as he pointed to his leg. "I'm infected! It's over for me, Alan! Over! So excuse me if I want a drink right now, alright!?" Hunter's eyes were on fire as he stared down Alan's illuminated face from the campfire. Alan didn't know what to say.

"Hunter, I-"

Alan was cut off by the sound of thunder above as they both looked up. A few short seconds later, it started to rain very heavily, as the deluge extinguished their fire. Hunter laughed in disbelief, unable to believe his luck.

"Hah, and I thought today couldn't get any shittier." Seething with anger, Hunter threw his flask into the now wet embers of the fire as he felt the rain start to wash the blood off his face. "I even used a potion of healing on it. I knew it wouldn't work, potions of healing can't cure a zombie's bite, but still. I thought it wouldn't hurt to try, right?" Hunter curled up into a ball where he was sitting. "But nothing happened. Nothing."

The pang of guilt in Alan's chest made him feel like he was about to explode. "Hunter... I'm so sorry. I never wanted any of this." Hunter looked up at Alan and the anger cooled down inside of him. He just shrugged as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"It's alright, Alan. It's not your fault. I'm just... I don't know what to do. I've survived so long, I just kind of thought that I'd drink myself to death before I got bit and... well, here we are." Hunter flinched as he felt a pain shoot up his leg. "Hell, I can't even amputate it anymore, it's already well in my system. All I can do is just... wait, I guess," Hunter concluded, accepting his fate. He would die soon. And then he would turn into a zombie. That was his reality now, whether he liked it or not.

Alan realized, despite what Hunter said, that this _was_ his fault. Not knowing what else to say, he slowly crawled over to where Hunter was sitting and sat beside him. Hunter looked over at him, confused.

"Then we wait together," Alan said, giving Hunter a small smile.

"Alan, you don't have to-"

"Yes, I do," Alan interrupted, "I just have to." Alan firmly looked at Hunter's face waiting to get an answer. Hunter stared back at him, not sure what to make out of a guy like Alan.

"Alright," Hunter conceded with a grin. "We'll wait. Together." Hunter pulled out the dagger from his belt sheath as well as Lana's compass and handed them both to Alan. "But, when it's time... I need you to make sure I don't come back."

Alan hesitated for a second, but the look on Hunter's face said it all. He didn't want to turn into a zombie under any circumstances. Nobody did. Alan at least owed him that much. He nodded as he accepted Hunter's terms. He took the dagger from Hunter's hands, and kept it at his side.

"Thank you, Alan... I appreciate it." Hunter sighed as he looked upwards toward the sky, rain cascading down on his face. His legs were already completely numb, and he could feel it moving upward to his chest. He didn't have too much longer. "So, what now?" he asked, still feeling a slight buzz from the alcohol. Alan thought for a second, not sure what to say, but then he started giggling, holding his ribs in pain. "What's so funny?" Hunter asked as he looked over at Alan, not sure where the sudden outburst of laughter came from.

"Did I ever tell you about that time when one of my partners at the Capitol University poisoned herself?" Alan said in between laughs. This, of course, caused Hunter to laugh as well.

"Hah, what? Seriously? How'd she manage to do that?"

"Heh, well, it was her first year at the university, right? So she was brand new, just came off the boat from Spawn Pointe. Anyway, we were all supposed to be making potions of regeneration that day for our first assignment, and we were supposed to demonstrate it on ourselves by drinking it." Alan took a break to catch his breath before continuing. "Anyway, we were all taking turns demonstrating our brew of the potion, then we get to her, right? This dumb broad takes one large swig of her 'potion', swallows it, and you can see her face instantly turn completely green, like a frog!"

"You're joking!" Hunter croaks out in between his laughter. "She didn't!"

"She _did!_ " Alan howls, slapping his knee. "Before we could even ask her what was wrong, she starts puking all over the place. Master Dodin immediately had us all hold her down while he administered a potion of regeneration. Puke got _all over us!_ " Alan was crying tears of laughter as he described the scenario, and Hunter was right there with him. "She got better, of course, and she actually ended up becoming one of our best poison makers. Penelope was her name, I think. Penelope Schultz."

"Hey, I got a story for you," Hunter said, grinning ear to ear. "Did I ever tell you the story my grandad told me about how he accidentally slept with a baron's wife during the Baron Wars?"

"What? No way!" Alan laughed, waving his hand dismissively.

"Uh, yes way!" Hunter retorted as he began to recount the story. "So, like any good story, this story begins with a bunch of bored friends, and a _lot_ of booze!"

And for the next hour or so, they sat against the side of that tree telling stories to each other about life before the mob invasion as they got drenched by the rain. Hunter would tell stories of some of his drunken exploits in the country side around his family's farm, and Alan would provide Hunter with tales of what city life was like in the Capitol. They told each other stories of their previous girlfriends, what they would have done in life had the mob invasion hadn't happened, stories from their childhood, and anything else that came to mind. Alan had to ask Hunter to repeat himself several times throughout the conversation as he began to struggle with his new deafness in his left ear, but overall it wasn't so bad. The hearing in his right ear still seemed to work fine, and he could tell that Hunter was enjoying his last moments, which was all that mattered. Hunter was happy, the happiest he had been in a while. It had been too long since he could just sit down and laugh with someone like this without the other person thinking he was just some piece of drunk trash. He went to give Alan a pat on the back after a particularly funny story, but he realized that he couldn't move his arms anymore. The infection had spread. Not breaking his smile, and not saying anything to Alan about it to dampen the mood, he knew that he didn't have much time left. He was ready.

"...So, anyway," Alan chuckled. "My mother walks in, looks around, and asks 'Where is your brother?!' And I couldn't really think of anything on the spot like that, so I just told her the truth: that he had gone down to the brothel! Ohhh man, when he got home that night, I was almost convinced that Mom was going to just skin him alive right then and there, haha! You should have seen the look on his face, Hunter." Alan smirked, waiting for Hunter's response to the story. But he didn't hear anything. "Hunter?" Alan turned to look over at his friend.

Eyes closed, Hunter's head drooped down, staring at his lap. His hands lay limp at his side, and Alan could tell even under the cover of night that he wasn't breathing. Hunter was dead.

"God dammit..." Alan muttered to himself as tears once again started to pour down his face, blending in with the rain. The pang of guilt and grief twisted Alan's stomach into a knot and he felt sick. Suddenly, he realized that he was still holding Hunter's dagger in his hand. Vision blurred, he buried his face into Hunter's shoulder and sobbed for several minutes. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, Hunter." He repeated his apology over and over, but he was the only one there to hear it. He was alone.

The potion of regeneration had worked, and Alan's left arm and ribs were now almost completely healed. Taking his left arm out of the sling, he rested his hand on Hunter's shoulder. Using his right hand, he slowly placed the dagger's tip against the side of Hunter's temple.

"I'm sorry."

Using all of his strength, he thrust the dagger into the temple, breaking through the skull as the blade lodged itself into the brain. Alan felt the warmth of the blood as it shot out and covered his hands, and he could only be thankful that his vision was obscured by the darkness. Yanking the blade out, Hunter's corpse fell over on its side, and the possibility of it reanimating into a zombie was gone, just like Hunter wanted.

Standing up, Alan paced back and forth for a few seconds trying to calm himself down, but to no avail. He had lost one of the few friends that he had, and it was all his fault. Realizing that he was going to have an emotional breakdown if he didn't leave the area immediately, he pulled out Lana's compass and got ready to go. Before he left, however, he reached down into the muddy remains of the campfire, and pulled out Hunter's flask. He gently placed it on Hunter's chest, making sure to leave the cap off. A final goodbye to him.

Turning to leave, Alan felt numb. He felt numb as he followed the glowing redstone of the compass as it pointed its way to Hunter's Watch. He felt numb as he dodged several groups of zombies along the way. He felt numb as he explained what happened to Lana, Frederick, Daren, and the others when he arrived back in Hunter's Watch. He felt numb as he washed Hunter's blood off of his hands in the river. He felt numb when he went to bed that night and stared at the ceiling, wishing it would collapse in on him and kill him.

He felt numb.

* * *

 ** _Next Chapter: The Edgelands_**

* * *

 ** _A/N: Well, there you go. Chapter 11, "Unimaginable Loss." I either made a really good decision, or a really bad decision, but I'm sticking with it either way. (Like I have much of a choice, right?) I guess it's fitting that I took a bit of a long break after the last chapter, because the last chapter was the sort of halfway point for Book 1, so just consider that the "midseason finale" lol. As it stands now, Book 1 has 19 chapters, so we only have 8 more chapters to go before the Book 1 finale. Where does the time go, amirite?_**

 ** _Anyway, as always, thank you for reading. Now that I got some of my motivation back, I plan to pump out a few more chapters this summer while I can, so be on the lookout for those. If you have any criticism or critique, I'd love to hear it in the reviews, they really help me out a lot. Thank you all for your time._**


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